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EDITED BY 

WILLIAM T. HAERIS, A. M., LL. D. 



Volume II. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SEEIES. 

Edited by W. T. Harris. 



It is proposed to publish, under the above title, a library for teachers 
and school managers, and text-books for normal classes. The aim will 
be to provide works of a useful practical character in the broadest sense. 

The following conspectus will show the ground to be covered by the 
series : 

I. — History of Education, (a.) Original systems as ex. 
pounded by their founders, (b.) Critical histories which set forth the 
customs of the past and point out their advantages and defects, explain- 
ing the grounds of their adoption, and also of theii final disuse. 

II, — Educational Criticism, (a.) The noteworthy arraign- 
ments which educational reformers have put forth against existing sys- 
tems : these compose the classics of pedagogy, (b.) The critical histories 
above mentioned. 

III.— Systematic Treatises on tlie Theory of Edu- 
cation, (a.) Works written from the historical standpoint; these, 
for the most part, show a tendency to justify the traditional course of 
study and to defend the prevailing methods of instruction, (b.) Works 
written from critical standpoints, and to a greater or less degree revolu- 
tionary in their tendency. 

IV. — The Art of Education, (a.) Works on instruction 
and discipline, and the practical details of the school-room, (b.) Works 
on the organization and supervision of schools. 

Practical insight into the educational methods in vogue can not be 
attained without a knowledge of the process by which they have come to 
be established. For this reason it is proposed to give special prominence 
to the history of the systems that have prevailed. 

Again, since history is incompetent to furnish the ideal of the future, 
it is necessary to devote large space to works of educational criticism. 
Criticism is the purifying process by which ideals are rendered clear and 
potent, so that progress becomes possible. 

.History and criticism combined make possible a theory of the whole. 



For, with an ideal toward which the entire movement tends, and an ac- 
count of the phases that have appeared in time, the connected develop- 
ment of the whole can be shown, and all united into one system. 

Lastly, after the science, comes the practice. The art of education is 
treated in special works devoted to the devices and technical details use- 
ful in the school-room. 

It is believed that the teacher does not need authority so much as in- 
sight in matters of education. When he understands the theory of edu- 
cation and the history of its growth, and has matured his own point 
of view by careful study of the critical literature of education, then he is 
competent to select or invent such practical devices as are best adapted 
to his own wants. 

The series will contain works from European as well as American 
authors, and will be under the editorship of W. T. Harris, A. M., LL. D. 
The price for the volumes of the series will be $1.50 for the larger 
volumes, '75 cents for the smaller ones. 

Vol. I. The PliUosophy of Education. By Johann Karl 

Friedrich Rosenkranz. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. 
Vol. II. A History of Education. By Prof. F. V. K Painter, 

of Roanoke, Virginia. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES 



A HISTORY 



OF 



E DUG ATION 



BY 



F. Y. N. PAINTER, A. M. 

PK0FES80K or MODERN LANGITAGES AND LITEKATUKE IN BOANOKB COLLEGE 




NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET 
1886 



CU 












Copyright, 1886, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



6u- io;iiH 



DEDICATED 



2r{)c |«cmor2 of mg iFattier. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



The following work by Prof. Painter takes up the 
subject from the standpoint of the history of civiliza- 
tion. The educational ideals that have prevailed have 
been derived from the principles that have controlled 
nations and religions. Each State has evolved a sys- 
tem of education in conformity with the fundamental 
idea of its civilization. It may or may not have had 
a system of schools, but it has possessed instrumen- 
talities for education in the family, civil society, and 
religious ceremonial, besides its own direct discipline 
through the laws and their administration and through 
its pubHc service, civil and military. In religion, 
whether Christian or "heathen," there is implied a 
definite fundamental view of the world which is re- 
ferred to in all concrete relations, and by this there is 
given a sort of systematic unity to the details of life. 
The first object of parental government is to train the 
child into habits of conformity to the current religious 



Viii EDITORS PREFACE. 

view. The government seeks to enforce an observance 
of regulations that establish social relations founded on 
the view of the world furnished in religion. 

We learn, therefore, to look for the explanation of 
the system of education in the national ideal as revealed 
in its religion, art, social customs, and form of govern- 
ment. A new phase of civilization demands a new 
system of education. The school, originally organized 
as an instrumentality of the Church, is needed to re-en- 
force the other institutions, and accordingly in modern 
times gets expansion and modification for this object. 
It is in this study of the civilization as a whole that we 
learn to comprehend the organization of the schools of 
a country. 

The attention of the reader is called, first, to the 
broad contrast between the spirit of education as it ex- 
isted in Asia and that in Europe. Subjection to au- 
thority is the principle on which most stress is laid in 
the former. The development of the individual seems 
to be the constantly growing tendency in the latter, and 
especially in its colonies. Absolute ralers, castes, pa- 
rental government, and ethical codes, form the chief 
themes of interest in Oriental education. Personal 
adventure, its celebration in worlcs of art, the growth 
of constitutional forms of government that protect the 
individual from the substantial might of the ruling 
authority, free thought, its organization into science — 
these are the features that attract us in the civilization 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. JX 

of the Occident, and wMcli explain its educational sys- 
tems. 

Inasmuch as the element of authority continues 
throughout all history as a necessary strand of civiliza- 
tion, it follows that Oriental civilization has important 
lessons for all people, even the most democratic. The 
net result of the life of the race must be summed up 
and given to the child, so that he shall be saved from 
repeating the errors that had to be hved through before 
the wisdom expressed by the ethical code could be 
generalized. Implicit obedience has to be the first 
lesson for the child. How he shall gradually become 
endowed with self-control, and finally have the free 
management of aU his affairs, is the further problem of 
the educational system. 

After the reader has studied the spirit of the 
Asiatic systems, he will find his interest in fixing as 
clearly as possible the spirit of Christianity before his 
mind, as it is portrayed in the third chapter of this 
book. The influence of such an idea as that of the 
Divine-human God condescending to assume the sor- 
rows and trials of mortal Hfe, all for the sake of the 
elevation of individual souls, the humblest and weakest 
as well as the mightiest and most exalted, is potent to 
transform civihzation. That the divine history should 
be that of infinite tenderness and consideration for the 
individual, even in his imperfections, acts as a perma- 
nent cause to affect the relation of the directing and 



X EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

controlling powers in human society to the masses be- 
neath them. The whole policy of the institutions of 
civilization — family, state, church — becomes more and 
more one of tender nurture and development of indi- 
viduahty as the highest object to be sought by hu- 
manity. 

In the fourth chapter, Prof. Painter has traced the 
process of fixing the course of the new civilization, just 
as in the third chapter the chief theme is the reaction 
against the old forms of heathen education that still 
survived. After the Church has become firmly estab- 
lished politically and doctrinally, there arises the strug- 
gle within it of the two tendencies represented, on the 
one hand, by the so-called "humanist" direction which 
lays chief stress on language-studies, and puts forward 
the mastery of Latin and Greek as the propasdeutics 
of all genuine culture ; and, by the naturalism on the 
other, that insists upon the study of Nature and ex- 
perimental science as the true road to culture. 

In the struggle between the study of the " humani- 
ties" and the study of the "modems" (or science, 
modem languages, modern literature, and history), we 
have reached the process that still goes on in our own 
day unadjusted by the discovery of a common ground 
that conserves the merits of both tendencies. In Chi- 
nese education, with its exclusive training of the mem- 
ory, in the study of Latin and Greek among modern 
European nations, and, mdeed, in such trivial matters 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. xi 

as the study of English spelling, with its lack of con- 
sistency and its strain on the mechanical memory, we 
see the same educational effects obtained. Memory is 
the faculty that subordinates the present under the 
past, and its extensive training develops a habit of 
mind that holds by what is prescribed, and recoils from 
the new and untried. In short, the educational cur- 
riculum that lays great stress on memorizing produces 
a class of conservative people. On the other hand, the 
studies that develop original powers of observation, and 
especially a scientific mind, devoted to Nature and neg- 
lecting human history, produces a radical, not to say 
revolutionizing, tendency. It must be obvious that true 
progress demands both tendencies, held in equilibrium. 
The study of the wisdom of the race, the acceptance 
of tlie heritage of the past life of the race, is essential 
to save the new generation from repeating aU the steps 
traveled on the way hitherto. This necessitates the 
grounding of education in a study of the humanities. 
On the other hand, if this load of prescription is not to 
be a millstone that crushes out all spontaneity from the 
rising generation, there must be a counter-movement 
whose principle is the scientific spirit, approaching the 
world of E"ature and the world of institutions with the 
free attitude of science and individual investigation, 
which accepts only the results that can be demonstrated 
or verified by its 0"\vn activity, and enjoys therefore a 
feeling of' self-recognition in its acquisitions. In sci- 



xii EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

ence, man is doubly active : on the one hand, seizing 
and inventorying the particular fact or event ; on the 
other hand, subsuming it under a universal principle 
that involves causal energy and a law of action. The 
act of subsumption gives the mind special gratification 
because it feels set free from the limited instance and 
elevated to the realm of principle, wherein it sees the 
energy that creates all instances, and contains them all 
potentially within itself. Hence, the spirit of revolu- 
tion that is gaining so powerful a hold of society in the 
most recent times. The spirit of science is contagious, 
and impels toward complete emancipation from the 
past. But science has made comparatively little prog- 
ress in the social and political departments, and, be- 
sides this, no one is bom with science, nor is it possible 
for one to attain it in early youth. Hence, it is neces- 
sary to retain the prescriptive element in education, 
and to insist upon implicit obedience to prescribed rule 
at first. There must be a gradual transition over to 
self-government and free scientific investigation. 

W. T. Haeeis. 

Concord, IVIass., April, 18S6. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



It was in tlie library of the University of Bonn, 
nearly four years ago, as I sat before an alcove of 
educational works and leisurely examined the admira- 
ble histories by Ramner and Karl Schmidt, that the 
thought and purpose of preparing this work were first 
conceived. In view of the poverty of our literature in 
educational history, it seemed to me that such a work, 
by exhibiting the pedagogical principles, labors, and 
progress of the past, might be helpful to teachers in 
America. 

The histoiy of education, viewed from the stand- 
point of the philosophy of history, has been traced in 
its relations with the social, political, and religious con- 
ditions of each country. While the results of French 
and German scholarship in this field have been utilized, 
the original sources of information whenever accessible 
have been consulted. As far as was consistent with the 
limits of this volume, the great teachers of all ages have 



xiv AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

been allowed to speak for themselves — a method that 
appeared more satisfactory than to paraphrase or epito- 
mize their views. 

Avoiding such matters of detail as serve only to 
confuse and oppress the memory, I have endeavored 
to present clearly the leading characteristics of each pe- 
riod, and the labors and distinctive principles of promi- 
nent educators. Considerable prominence has been 
given to Comenius, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and other edu- 
cational reformers, who laid the foundations of the 
scientific methods now coming into general use. In 
support or illustration of various statements, recognized 
authorities have been permitted to speak freely. 

In preparing this history my position has been, as 
I believe, that of conservative progress. While what 
is valuable in educational theory and practice is to be 
retained, and novelties are to be subjected to rigid 
scrutiny, it does not seem wise, in view of the fact that 
the science of education is yet incomplete, to reject 
summarily all changes and reforms as unnecessary and 
hurtful innovations. In the sphere of higher education 
I have not alhed myself to either the humanists or the 
realists, believing that the truth lies between these two 
extremes. In every department of education I have 
been able to discover progress, and it is my confident 
hope that the agitations of the present will issue in a 
system more nearly perfect than any yet devised. 

I have frequently consulted Paroz's " Histoire 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. XV 

JJniverselle de la Pedagogie^'' Dittes's " Geschickte der 
Erziehimg,'' and Raumer's " Geschickte der Pddago- 
gik " / but my greatest obligation is due to Karl 
Schmidt's " Geschickte der Pddagogih^'' wliich is prob- 
ably the ablest work that has yet been written on edu- 
cational history. From these works, as well as from 
other French and German authors, a number of valu- 
able passages have been translated. To President Ju- 
lius D. Dreher, of Roanoke College, who read this 
work, both in manuscript and in proof, special acknowl- 
edgments are due for valuable suggestions. 

F. Y. K. P. 

Salem, Viuginia, Ajiril 12, 1886, 



CO]^TENTS. 



PAOE 

Introduction 1 

I. — The Oriental Nations 9 

1. China 9 

2. India 15 

3. Persia 21 

— ^. The People of Israel 26 

5. Egypt -. . 32 

II. — The Ancient Classical Nations 37 

1. Greece 39 

a. Sparta 40 

b. Pythagoras 45 

c. Athens 49 

d. Socrates . .56 

e. Plato 60 

/. Aristotle 62 

2. Rome 65 

a. Cicero 71 

b. Seneca 74 

c. Quintilian 76 

III. — Christian Education before the Reformation . . 80 

1. The Relation of Christianity to Education . . 80 

2. The Pounder of Christianity 82 

3. Brief Survey of the Period 86 

4. Education in the Early Church 88 

a. Catechetical Schools 91 



XVlll 



CONTENTS. 



Education during the Middle Ages 
a. Monastic Schools . 

Cathedral and Parocliial Schools 

Charlemagne .... 

Secular Education . 

Knightly Education 
/. Burgher Schools . 
g. Female Education . 
h. Brethren of the Common Life 
i. The Scientiiic Spirit 
j. Mohammedan Learning 
Tc. Rise of the Universities . 
I. Summary .... 



PAOB 

. 09 
102 
, 104 
. lOG 
, 107 
, 110 
. Ill 
, 113 
. 113 
, 114 
. 115 
. 117 



IV. — Education from the Reformation to the Present 

Time 119 

1. The Revival of Learning and the Humanists . 120 

a. Agricola 125 

h. Reuchlin 128 

c. Erasmus 131 

2. The Relation of the Reformation to Education . 135 
a. The Condition of the Church .... 135 
h. Principles of Protestantism .... 138 

3. The Reformers 140 

a. Luther 140 

h. Melanchthon 148 

c. Zwingli and Calvin 153 

4. Abstract Theological Education (1550-1700) . . 154 

a. John Sturm 159 

h. The Universities 104 

c. The Jesuits 106 

5. Reaction against Abstract Theological Education . 173 

a. Montaigne 175 

h. Bacon 179 

c. Milton 188 

d. Ratich 194 

e. Comenius 200 



CONTENTS. xix 

PAGE 

/. Locke . . , 213 

g. Jansenism 224 

h. Fenelon 227 

*. RoUin 234 

j. Pietism 239 

k. Francke 240 

6. Abstract Human Education 247 

a. Rousseau 249 

b. The Philanthropiu 256 

c. The Humanists 261 

7. Education in the Nineteenth Century . . . 266 

a. Pestalozzi 266 

b. Froebel and the Kindergarten .... 278 

c. Contemporary Education 288 

d. Germany 291 

e. France 296 

/. England 302 

g. United States 306 

(1.) Colonial Period 308 

(2.) National Period 314 

h. Conclusion 325 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The principles whicli sbonld control edncational 
methods are to be sought in human nature. This truth, 
which long remained unnoticed or inoperative, has been 
emphasized by the educational reformers of modern 
times. "Everything should be done in the order of 
natm'e " is one of the maxims of Comenius. Pestalozzi 
has beautifully said : " Sound education stands before 
me symbolized by a tree planted near fertilizing waters. 
A little seed, which contains the design of the tree, its 
form and proportions, is placed in the soil. See how it 
germinates and expands into trunk, branches, leaves, 
flowers, and fruit ! The whole tree is an uninterrupted 
chain of organic parts, the plan of which existed in its 
seed and root. Man is similar to the tree. In the new- 
born child are hidden those faculties which are to un- 
fold during life. The individual and separate organs of 
his being form themselves gradually into an harmonic 
whole, and build up humanity in the image of God." 

The various faculties or capacities which await de- 
velopment in the child are classed as physical, mental, 
and moral. To meet the ends of life, the body must 
1 



2 HISTORY OP EDUCATION. 

grow, the mind be developed, and tlie moral nature 
trained. These powers, though at first existing in a 
germinal condition, contain within themselves large pos- 
sibilities and a strong impulse toward development. The 
helpless infant may become a Newton. The genninal 
powers start spontaneously into activity ; the limbs be- 
come restlessly active, the senses open to objects of the 
external world, and cognition has its beginning. This 
growth or development, which gradually transforms 
childhood into youth, and youth into manhood, goes on 
according to definite laws, and may be sadly thwarted 
by neglect, or greatly promoted by judicious care. 

During a considerable period of his early life man is 
helpless and ignorant ; he is without the strength and 
knowledge necessary to maintain an independent exist- 
ence. It is this fact that renders education a necessity. 
The processes of physical and mental growth must be 
assisted and directed during the formative periods of 
childhood and youth. This is the function of education. 
Without its fostering care, no generation can be ade- 
quately fitted for the duties of life and the achievement 
of a worthy destiny. 

The end of education is complete human develop- 
ment. This is attained by leading the several parts of 
man's nature to a harmonious realization of their high- 
est possibilities. The finished result is a noble man- 
hood, whose highest exemplification, the ideal of all 
culture, is Christ. The elements of this manhood are a 
healthy body, a clear and well-informed intellect, sensi- 
bilities quickly susceptible to every right feeling, and a 
steady will whose volitions are determined by reason 
and an enlightened conscience. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

In support of this conception of education, Prof. 
Huxley has strikingly said : " That man, I think, has 
had a liberal education who has been so trained in his 
youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and 
does with ease and pleasiu'e all the work that, as a 
mechanism, it is capable of ; whose intellect is a clear, 
cold logic-engine, with all its parts of equal strength, 
and in smooth working order ; ready, like a steam-en- 
gine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the 
gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind ; 
whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and 
fundamental truths of Nature, and of the laws of her 
operations ; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life 
and fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel 
by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender conscience ; 
who has learned to love all beauty, whether of natm'e 
or art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as him- 
seK." 

Thus, in its essential nature, education aims at de- 
veloping a noble type of manhood ; but it has also an 
external relation. Man has various labors and duties to 
perform in the world, which require special training, 
and a wide range of knowledge. Childhood and youth 
are the periods of preparation. Hence, it is clear that 
education, both in its subjects and methods of instruc- 
tion, should have some reference to the demands of prac- 
tical life. Human development should be combined 
with practical wisdom ; the school should be the natural 
introduction into active life. This is the view of Mil- 
ton, who has said, "I call a complete and generous 
education that which fits a man to perform justly, skill- 
fully, and magnanimously all the oflSces, both private 



4 HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

and public, of peace and war." Herbert Spencer also 
has presented the same view very forcibly. " How to 
live," lie says, " that is the essential question for us. 
!Not how to live in the mere material sense only, but 
in the widest sense. The general problem which com- 
prehends every special problem is the right ruling of 
conduct in all directions under all circumstances. In 
what way to treat the body ; in what way to treat the 
mind ; in what way to manage our affairs ; in what way 
to bring up a family ; in what way to behave as a citi- 
zen ; in what way to utilize all those sources of happi- 
ness which Nature supplies ; how to use all our faculties 
to the greatest advantage of ourselves and others ; how 
to live completely. And this being the great thing 
needful for us to learn, is, by consequence, the great 
thing which education has to teach. To prepare us for 
complete living is the function which education has to 
discharge ; and the only rational mode of judging of any 
educational course is to judge in what degree it dis- 
charges such function." 

There are two elements, logically distinguishable but 
practically inseparable, entering into education. These 
are development and the acquisition of knowledge. 
"Without development, the individual lacks strength to 
grapple with the problems of life ; and without knowl- 
edge, he remains a cipher in society. The great law 
underlying physical and mental development is self- 
activity. Every truly educated man is seK-made. The 
various functions of the mind, whether perceiving, feel- 
ing, judging, or willing, must for a long period be called 
into frequent exercise in connection with objects, facts, 
relations, and truths, in order to become active, obe- 



INTRODTJCTION. 5 

dient, and strong. The basis of tliis activity is Imowl- 
edge, which is as necessary for the development of the 
mind as food is for the growth of the body. " As food 
is indispensable to physical growth," says Johonnot, " so 
without knowledge the mind can not grow. While the 
mind, from the first, possesses all the germs of mental 
power, it is the appropriation of knowledge alone that 
converts its latent and apparently passive capacities into 
active capabilities.'" Education is not creative ; it can 
not give what Nature has withheld. It is limited by the 
pupil's individuahty, which it can ennoble, but not radi- 
cally change. 

In some form or other, education is as old as our 
race. According to Holy Writ, the first himian pair 
were the subjects of divine tuition. Among all peo- 
ples, barbarous as well as civilized, each generation has 
received a special training for its subsequent career. 
Where the form of civilization has been low, education 
has been narrow and defective. Uncivilized communi- 
ties do scarcely more than strengthen the body and cul- 
tivate the senses. Among no two nations of antiquity 
have the theory and practice of education been the same. 
It has varied with the different social, political, and re- 
ligious conditions of the people and the physical charac- 
teristics of the country. But, however varied or imper- 
fect its form, education has existed among all nations. 

It is a profound thought of German philosophy that 
God is leading the world, through a gradual though not 
uninterrupted development, to greater intelligence, free- 
dom, and goodness. Like the individual, our race as a 
whole has to pass through the successive periods of 
childhood, youth, and maturity. Each succeeding pe- 



6 EISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

riod inherits tlie accumulated wisdom of the preceding 
one, and adds new treasures of its own. After the 
lapse of many ages of striving and conflict, mankind 
has reached a stage of development among enlightened 
nations that seems to accord with the estate of manhood. 
Intelligence, freedom, morality, and religion, though far 
from being universal, prevail to a degree unprecedented 
in the past. Human progress is an evident fact. 

With improvement in other human interests, there 
has been unmistakable progress in education. Indeed, 
the ancient world, as we shall soon see, never succeeded 
in producing a correct and complete theory of educa- 
tion. If a great thinker now and then approximated 
the truth, his voice was lost upon the heedless multi- 
tude. The practice could hardly be better than the 
theory. Hence we shall find that education was always 
defective, usually laying stress upon some particular 
phase of human culture, to the neglect of others. Some- 
times the physical was emphasized, sometimes the in- 
tellectual, sometimes the moral, sometimes the religious ; 
but never all together in perfect symmetry. It has been 
reserved for the nineteenth century, so distinguished 
for its many-sided advancement, to realize an education 
which leaves no part of man's nature neglected. 

"We are now prepared to understand the nature of 
the history of education. It is an exhibition of what 
has been thought and done in all ages and countries in 
reference to training the young. It sets forth the prin- 
ciples and methods which have prevailed at various 
periods and in different lands. It gives an account of 
the prominent educators whose theories and methods 
have exerted a noteworthy influence upon educational 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

development. It includes an inquiry into tlie social, 
religious, and political conditions whicli have determined 
the peculiar form of education, and traces the line of 
educational progress from its humble beginnings down 
to the precious heritage of the present. 

The history of education is a valuable study. Edu- 
cation stands in close relation to the civilization of a 
people. It is, at the same time, both a cause and an 
effect. Educational history, in setting forth the influ- 
ences determining the peculiar character of education 
in any country, becomes to some extent a philosophy of 
history in general. As such it is a profound study. 
" The education of a people," says Dr. Henry Barnard, 
"bears a constant and most pre-eminently influential 
relation to its attainments and excellences — physical, 
mental, and moral. The national education is at once a 
cause and an effect of the national character ; and ac- 
cordingly, the history of education affords the only ready 
and perfect key to the history of the human race, and 
of each nation in it — an unfailing standard for estimat- 
ing its advance or retreat upon the line of human prog- 
ress." 

To speak more specifically, the study of educational 
history, by bringing the whole field within the range of 
our vision, broadens our views in regard to education. 
By acquainting us with the views and methods of the 
past, it spares us the cost of repeating experiments and 
mistakes. It gives the origin of present educational sys- 
tems, and shows what is correct in principle and valu- 
able in method. It inspires educational workers with 
greater zeal by presenting the examples of self-sacrificing 
and illustrious teachers. And it is a necessary study in 



8 HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

order to complete the compreliensive scheme included 
in what is properly called the science of education. 

Asia is the birtliplace of the human race. The 
march of progress, following the course of the sun, has 
been westward through Europe to America, which com- 
pletes the circle of the globe. Here the great problems 
of religion, science, government, and education will 
probably receive their final solution. Following the 
course of human progress, the history of education nat- 
m-ally divides itself as follows : 

I. The Oriental countries, including China, India, 
Persia, Palestine, and Egypt. 

II. The ancient classical nations, Greece and Pome. 

III. The Christian education of Europe and Amer- 
ica, which is divided into — 1. The period before the 
Reformation ; and, 2. The period after the Peformation. 

In this classification no account is taken of uncivil- 
ized peoples, since education with them consists almost 
exclusively in training the body for war and the chase. 
Their education is thus too primitive in its character to 
bring it within the scope of om* present undertaking. 



I. 

THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

A STEiKiNG fact, wliicli throws great light upon 
Eastern education, is to be noted in reference to Oriental 
life. The individual there counts for nothing. A 
despotic external authority controls his destiny. Edu- 
cation does not aim to develop a perfect man or woman, 
but to prepare its subjects for their place in the estab- 
Hshed order of things. It does not aim to beautify the 
stone, but simply to fit it for its place in the wall. The 
source of this all-controlling authority varies in the 
different countries. In China it is fossiKzed tradition ; 
in India, caste ; in Persia, the state ; among the Jews, 
the theocracy. In all the Oriental countries, this ex- 
ternal authority determines the character of education ; 
and, if this idea is firmly grasped, it will facilitate a 
thorough understanding of the educational systems of 
the East. 

1. China. 

The Chinese Empire — that magnificent country which 
comprises a f om-th part of the population of the globe — 
first claims our attention. Its people belong to the 
Mongohan race, whose genius is shown by the early in- 
vention of paper, printing, gunpowder, and the mari- 
ner's compass. Their character presents many points of 



10 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

interest. They are industrious and economical ; and in 
the relations of everj-daj life they are polite and kind. 
They honor their parents, love their children, and re~ 
spect those in authority. Possessed of great patience, 
they endure oppression and suffering without a murmur. 
On the other hand, they are destitute of deep moral 
convictions. They are hypocritical and dishonest ; and, 
once in authority, they are apt to become tyrannical, 
and even cruel. Their wives are held in contempt- 
Destitute of hope beyond the grave, and incapable of 
spiritual delights, their aspii'ations are confined to 
earthly objects. They are gross in their pleasures ; and 
to acquire wealth, live in ease, and fill some public ofiice, 
are the highest aims of their ambition. 

Though one of the oldest nations in the world, the 
Chinese have for many ages made but little progress in 
civilization. They are very much the same to-day that 
they were more than two thousand years ago. The col- 
lective life of the people has become petrified in fixed 
forms. Their customs, the relations of the various 
classes of society, the methods of business and labor, the 
administration of justice, and the whole circle of thought, 
have all been stereotyped. They are practically un- 
changeable. 

Notwithstanding its evident imperfections, the Chi- 
nese regard their civilization with great complacency. 
They are the " celestials," and the rest of mankind are 
barbarians. The preservation of existing institutions is 
an object of constant care. All deviation from tradi- 
tional customs is looked upon with disfavor, improve- 
ments are hardly tolerated, and the introduction of for- 
eign culture is generally stigmatized as barbarous. With 



CHINA. 11 

such a national feeling, education can have but one end. 
Its object is to impress upon each generation traditional 
ideas and customs, and thus prepare it to take its place 
naturally in the established order of society. It does 
not aim at a development of the human faculties — it is 
simply a cramming of the memory. 

To education in this defective form there is great 
stimulus in China. " The importance of generally in- 
structing the people," says Williams, "was acknowl- 
edged even before the time of Confucius, and practiced 
to a good degree at an age when other nations in the 
world had no such system ; and although in his day 
feudal institutions prevailed, and offices and rank were 
not attainable in the same manner as at present, yet 
magistrates and noblemen deemed it necessary to be 
well acquainted with their ancient writings. In the 
' Book of Kites ' it is said ' that, for the purposes of 
education among the ancients, villages had their schools, 
districts their academies, departments their colleges, and 
principalities their universities.' This, so far as we 
know, was altogether superior to what obtained among 
the Jews, Persians, and Syrians of the same period." 
Education is forcibly and frequently inculcated in the 
classical Chinese Hterature, which is held in high esteem. 
The patronage of the wealthy makes education respect- 
able and popular. Besides, education opens the only 
road to political preferment. All the officers of the Im- 
perial Government are chosen from among those who 
have completed a long course of study and passed 
through the ordeal of several laborious and rigid exam- 
inations. Every community supports one or more pri- 
mary schools, while the larger towns and cities have 



12 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

academies and colleges. The teachers are generally 
competent, being prepared for their work by a long 
course of study. The schools are conducted in rooms 
destitute of comfort, and without furniture, except the 
chair and table of the teacher, and the desks and seats 
furnished by the pupils themselves. 

Children are placed under the care of a teacher at 
the age of six or seven years. The first years of their 
instruction are devoted to reading and writing ; and, as 
these are very difficult to learn, on account of the sign- 
character of the Chinese language, the great majority 
never reach any higher attainments. The teaching is 
wholly by rote : the pupils repeat after the teacher the 
names of the characters in the book given them to study. 
After they have learned to pronounce the characters 
fluently they are taught the meaning, and the moral les- 
sons of the book are impressed upon them. An extract 
is given from the book first placed in the hands of pu- 
pils at school : 

Men, at their birth, are by nature radically good. 

In this, all approximate, but in practice widely di- 
verge. 

If not educated, the natural character is changed. 

A course of education is made valuable by close at- 
tention. 

To bring up and not educate is a fathei*'s error. 

To educate without rigor shows a teacher's indo- 
lence. 

That boys should not learn is an improper tiling. 

For if they do not learn in youth, what will they do 
when old ? 

Gems unwrought can form nothing useful. 

So men untaught can never know the proprieties. 



CHINA. 13 

The discipline is severe. The teacher keeps his rat- 
tan or bamboo hanging in a conspicuous place, and he 
uses scolding, castigation, starving, and imprisonment, to 
stir up the diligence of his pupils in their necessarily 
distasteful tasks. 

Those in pursuit of a higher education place them- 
selves under the care of a competent teacher, from 
whom they receive instruction in the Chinese classics 
and in the art of composition. After many years of 
severe toil, and running the gantlet of repeated exam- 
inations in which his competitors are numbered by 
thousands, the successful scholar becomes a member of 
the Imperial Academy — a position that brings him high 
honors and also a generous support from the royal treas- 
ury. Henceforth he is a member of the Imperial Gov- 
ernment. 

It is proper to say a word here in reference to the 
Chinese classics, which form the basis of education, to 
the exclusion of aU those studies — geography, history, 
mathematics, science, and language — which are deemed 
in the Western world so indispensable to a liberal cult- 
ure. These classics in their present form are the work 
of Confucius, the most distinguished of Chinese philoso- 
phers and teachers, who lived in the fifth century be- 
fore Christ. They are in part compilations made by 
him from older works and in part his own composition. 
They treat chiefly of the duties of social and pohtical 
life, though they are also in some measure historical. 
" I teach you nothing," says Confucius, " but what you 
might learn yourselves — viz., the observance of the fun- 
damental laws of relation between sovereign and sub- 
ject, father and child, and husband and wife, and the 



14: THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

five cardinal virtues, universal cliarity, impartial justice, 
conformity to established ceremonies and usages, recti- 
tude of heart and mind, and pure sincerity." He thus 
speaks of filial duty in particular: "There are three 
thousand crimes to which one or another of the five 
kinds of punishment is attached as a penalty, and of 
these no one is greater than disobedience to parents. 
When ministers exercise control over the monarch, then 
there is no supremacy ; when the maxims of the sages 
are set aside, then the law is abrogated ; and so those 
who disregard fihal duty are as though they had no par- 
ents. These three evils prepare the way for universal 
rebellion." The teaching of Confucius was a system of 
natural morality, from which the ideas of a personal 
God and future life were excluded. While it has 
sapped the foundations of all rehgion, it has fostered a 
painstaking attention to outward ceremony. 

To sum up the results of this inquiry, the whole sys- 
tem of Chinese education confines the mind within a 
narrow circle of ideas, perpetuates the fixed customs of 
the people, encourages outward morality and ceremony, 
and renders progress well-nigh impossible. In the lan- 
guage of an able author already quoted : " OAving to this 
undue attention to the classics, the minds of scholars are 
not symmetrically trained, and they disparage other 
branches of literature which do not directly advance 
this great end. Every department of letters, except 
jurisprudence, history, and official statistics, is dises- 
teemed in comparison ; and the literary graduate of 
fourscore will be found deficient in most branches of 
general learning, ignorant of hundreds of common 
things and events in his national history, which the 



INDIA. 15 

merest school-boy in the Western world would be ' 
ashamed not to know in his. This course of instruction 
does not form well-balanced minds, but it imbues the 
future rulers of the land with a full understanding of 
the principles on which they are to govern, and the 
policy of the supreme power in using those principles 
to consolidate its own authority." As adapted to per- 
petuate an exclusive national existence, the Chinese sys- 
tem may not inappropriately be designated ancestral 
education. 

2. India. 

The consideration of education in India ought to 
possess the greater interest for us, since the Hindoos are 
of the same blood as ourselves. As a branch of the 
great Aryan or Indo-European family of nations, they 
moved southward from their Central Asiatic home, some 
two thousand years before Christ, into the vast peninsula 
which extends from the Himalaya Mountains into the 
Indian Ocean. There they brought into subjection the 
swarthier aborigines ; and, under the influence of the 
favorable soil and climate, they developed into a very 
numerous people. The wealth of their country has al- 
ways been a temptation to the avarice of other nations. 
The inoffensive character of the people has rendered 
them an easy prey. The Greeks, the Mohammedans, the 
Portuguese, and the Dutch have successively reached 
out a covetous hand after the natural and artificial treas- 
ures of the country. Last of all, the English, with their 
insatiable thirst for empire, have brought the whole 
peninsula under their sway, thereby adding a population 
of one hundred and ninety millions to the British do- 



16 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

minion, and securing for the Queen the additional title 
of Empress of India, All these foreign influences have 
wrought changes in the social, political, and religious 
condition of the people of India ; and, at present, all the 
ancient usages and laws are in a process of rapid disso- 
lution. 

The language of the ancient Hindoos was Sanskrit, 
which, as nearly related to the Latin, Greek, English, 
and other Indo-European languages, is of especial inter- 
est to the philologist. Though the Sanskrit has given 
place to dialects, as did the Latin after the fall of the 
Roman Empire, it is still the learned language of the 
Brahmans. This language is the repository of a litera- 
ture of great antiquity and surprising magnitude. The 
" Yeda," a collection of religious hymns, was compiled 
more than a thousand years before Christ. The " Maha- 
bharata " is an epic poem, whose length is more than 
double that of the " Iliad," " iEneid," and " Paradise 
Lost" combined. 

The prevailing religion is Brahmanism. Eor the 
more intelligent classes, this religion is pantheistic, and 
closely resembles modern philosophic pantheism in Ger- 
many. According to Brahmanism, God is an uncon- 
scious but all-pervading spiritual presence which has un- 
folded from within himself the material and visible uni- 
verse. As God is thus beheved to be in everything, 
this religion easily and naturally degenerates among the 
masses into polytheism, in which the various objects of 
nature are worshiped as divinities. 

The people present strange contradictions of char- 
acter. They are gentle, docile, polite, industrious, and 
faithful in service ; at the same time they are de- 



INDIA. 17 

ceitful, jealous, ungrateful, avaricious, and full of 
flattery. Thej are divided into four principal classes 
or castes : The Brahmans^ or holy teachers ; the 
Kshatriyas, or soldiers and kings of the nation; the 
Vaisyas, or farmers and traders ; and the Sudras, 
or servants of the three other classes. The three 
higher castes all enjoy peculiar rights and privileges, 
though the Brahmans possess the greatest influence, and 
are the repositories of learning for the whole people. Of 
the relative position of the several castes, Manu, the re- 
puted author of the most celebrated law-book of tlie an- 
cient Hindoos, says : " Whatever exists in the universe 
is all in effect, though not in form, the wealth of the 
Brahman ; since the Brahman is entitled to it all by his 
primogeniture and eminence of birth. . . . The first 
part of a Brahman's compound name should indicate 
holiness ; of a Kshatriya's, power ; of a Yaisya's, wealth ; 
and of a Sudra's, contempt." Of the caste system as a 
whole, a writer, who had ample opportunities of know- 
ing, has said : " It has made the Hindoos contented with 
their lot — whether good or bad, high or low — and in 
doing so has provided a kind of universal happiness, 
which, if not of the highest kind, was better than none. 
Even now as it is passing away, and justly so, we have 
firm faith that the God of all manldnd, who permitted 
this wondrous institution to grow up and flourish for 
thousands of years, will overrule it for good." 

The caste system of India is the controlling influ- 
ence in education. Each individual is bom into one of 
the four principal castes, whose usages he is compelled 
to learn and observe. As these are very numerous, de- 
scending into insignificant details in daily life, such in- 



18 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

stmction forms tlie principal part of the child's educa- 
tion. The Sudras and females are excluded from all 
other kinds of instruction. 

At the usual age of six or seven years the child is 
sent to school. This is presided over by a Brahman, 
who regards it a disgrace to receive a stipulated salary, 
and who is remunerated by voluntary gifts from his 
patrons. These gifts range from mere trifles to consid- 
erable estates ; but, upon the whole, leave the teacher 
poorly paid. He is held in high honor, and pupils 
render him greater reverence than they show to their 
parents. School is usually kept in the open air, under 
the shadow of a friendly tree; but, in case of bad 
weather, it is transferred to a thatched shed, or other 
covered building. Along with ceremonial usages and 
moral instruction, reading, writing, and arithmetic are 
taught. The first exercises in writing are in the sand. 
The teachers are aided not only by regular assistants, 
but also by the more mature pupils of the school. The 
lessons are learned aloud by the whole body of pupils at 
once. The discipline, in the main, may be regarded as 
mild. It is only after admonition has failed that bodily 
pain is inflicted by the rod, by placing the pupil in an 
uncomfortable position, or by pouring cold water upon 
him — a mode of punishment peculiar to India. 

The following extracts from a description written by 
a Hindoo, present some interesting details of the old- 
style school : 

An hour before closing the school the pupils are all 
made to stand up in a line, and, with their hands apphed 
to their hearts, they repeat the multiplication-table, the 
alphabet, and the sacred hymns or sloJcas / at the end of 



INDIA. 19 

each one of the last their hands are raised to their fore- 
heads, and their bodies bowed in reverence to the god 
in whose honor it was said. The master then instructs 
them in a long and tedious catalogue of frivolous duties 
to be discharged in their houses ; to which they all assent 
with a loud " Yes, yes ! " After this they prostrate them- 
selves before the tieacher, and are dismissed to their 
respective homes. The teacher must be a Brahman. 
The wealthy and respectable will never condescend to 
have their children educated by one of a lower caste. 

The system of education practiced in these schools 
is very defective, and the children make but Httle prog- 
ress ; they take a month or more to learn the alphabet, 
a year or two to learn to read, and still longer to write. 
Much time is wasted also in learning useless arithmetical 
tables. The master is slothful, and, like all Brahmans, 
fond of sleeping by day. In the afternoon, after the 
boys have collected for work, he considers his duties 
over till five, and so indulges in a sound sleep. Mean- 
while the pupils must get along as best they can ; but 
the teacher must not be disturbed. 

The teacher, however, is great on the subject of 
caste — on what should be eaten, what abstained from ; 
on idolizmg the Brahmans and avoiding the pariahs ; 
on his genealogy, his rights, his privileges, and on the 
mean origin and low position of other castes. He is 
ever eloquent on the necessity of feeding, clothing, and 
sheltering Brahmans, and of subscribing to the marriage 
of their sons and daughters ; and is ever mourning, in 
melancholy terms, that the native rule has departed, and 
with it the rajahs, who, supplying all the wants of the 
Brahmans, left them nothing to do but to eat, drink, and 
sleep.* 

Higher education in India has received, from ancient 

* " Every-day Life in India," by Rev. A. D. Rowe. In other particu- 
lars the description from which these extracts are taken seems to be 
overdrawn. 



20 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

times, careful attention. Althoiigli the higher institu- 
tions were destined chiefly for the Brahmans, they were 
open also to students from the second and third castes. 
The subjects pursued constituted an extensive cumcu- 
lum, and included grammar, mathematics, history, po- 
etry, philosophy, astronomy, medicine, and law. This 
course, which required twelve years for its completion, 
was pursued in its whole extent only by the Brahmans. 
The students of the warrior caste, from which the civil 
oflicers were chosen, and of the trading or agricultural 
caste, pursued only partial courses, with immediate ref- 
erence to the wants of practical life. In the science of 
mathematics, the Hindoos have made noteworthy prog- 
ress, and have placed the rest of mankind under obliga- 
tion for their development of this branch of knowledge. 
In the system of India no provision is made for 
physical education. The Hindoo is naturally averse to 
physical exertion. A life made up of eating, drinking, 
and sleeping is his ideal of happiness. He does not 
feel that exuberant vitality which makes mere existence 
a conscious enjoyment, and wrestling with difficulties a 
positive pleasure. This is a blessing reserved for the 
hardier children of the West. The religious education 
lacks the conception of a conscious, personal God ; and, 
in practice, religion has degenerated into a set of puerile 
observances. The highest religious aspiration is to be 
absorbed into the great, unconscious world-spirit. This 
ideal leads to an intensely selfish subjectivity, which 
violates, by its idle dreaminess, our fundamental duties 
to God and man. The intellectual education of the 
Hindoos is not whoUy undeserving of commendation. 
By nature they are a contemplative people, and this 



PERSIA. 21 

natural tendency is constantly fostered by tlieir religion. 
But, however subtile their intellectual operations may 
be, tlie Hindoos are wanting in that strong projective 
force that is necessary to subdue JSTature and hft the 
masses to a high degree of civilization. The name 
given to the system of India is caste education. 

3. Persia. 

Persia occupies an important place in history. It 
attained its highest point of greatness under Cyrus, who 
freed it from the dominion of the Medes, and elevated 
it into a mighty empire. At this period, Persia was the 
foremost nation of the world, not only in power, but 
also in civilization. In education it surpassed both in 
theory and practice the other Asiatic nations. 

The religion of Persia, founded by Zoroaster in the 
sixth century before Christ, is interesting in itself, and 
also in its relation to education. Nowhere, if we except 
the Jews, was this relation closer than among the an- 
cient Persians. Zoroaster discovered a dualism running 
through all nature. The contrast between light and 
darkness, fruitfulness and barrenness, useful and hurt- 
ful animals, fortune and misfortune, life and death, led 
him to conceive of two spiritual beings, the one good 
and the other bad, who divide the world into hostile 
kingdoms. At the head of the kingdom of light is 
Ormuzd, whose symbol is light; at the head of the 
other is Ahriman, whose symbol is darkness. In the 
end, the kingdom of good will prevail ; and it is the 
duty of every man to contribute to this triumph. He 
aids in this work by cultivating the soil, caring for 



22 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

herds, educating cliildren, maintaining physical and 
moral purity, and opposing whatever is evil and hurtful 
in the world. 

As in all Asiatic nations, the women were slavishly 
subordinate, and excluded from the advantages of edu- 
cation. Every morning the wife was required to kneel 
at the feet of her husband and ask nine times, " "What 
do you wish that I should do ? " And having received 
his reply, she must humbly withdraw to obey his com- 
mands. Children were objects of parental pride ; and 
as they were looked on as the source of the future power 
and prosperity of the state, the king was accustomed to 
show special favors to the heads of the largest families. 
The utmost care was exercised in the training of chil- 
dren. Up to the age of seven, they were left beneath 
the parental roof under the care of the mother ; but 
after that age they were regarded as belonging to the 
state, and were educated in public institutions. Till the 
age of fifteen this education was physical and moral. 
The body was strengthened and hardened by temperate 
habits in eating and drinking, by gymnastic and military 
exercises, and exposure to heat and cold. The moral 
nature of the child was trained with assiduous attention. 
As far as possible, it was preserved from contact with 
vice, while the virtues of self-control, truthfulness, and 
justice were constantly enjoined and practiced. Ingrati- 
tude and lying were considered the most shameful vices, 
while truthfulness was looked on as the highest virtue. 
At about fifteen, the boy passed to youth's estate ; and 
at this critical period of life he was subject to strict 
supervision and wholesome restraint. Through severe 
military discipline, he was prepared for the hardships 



PERSIA. 23 

of war, while the wise instruction of overseers or gov- 
ernors fitted him for the civil service of the state. The 
teachers were the ripest and worthiest men of the coun- 
try. At the age of fifty, the Persian was exempt from 
mihtary service. It was from among these men of ad- 
vanced age and ripe experience that the instructors of 
youth were chosen ; and they were expected to be pat- 
terns of the virtues that they inculcated by precept. 

Xenophon has treated at some length of Persian 
education, and has given us a clear insight into many 
details. "Most states," he says, "let each one bring 
up his sons as he pleases, and further permit the older 
youth to live as they choose ; only they forbid them to 
steal, to rob, to enter a house by force, to strike in 
secret, to commit adultery, and disobey the civil author- 
ity. If any one commits such a misdeed, they subject 
him to punishment. The Persian laws, on the contrary, 
take the initiative, and exercise a care that the citizens 
from the beginning on have no inclination to a wicked 
or shameful deed. For this they provide in the follow- 
ing manner : They have a public market-place which 
they call free. The part of the market-place that ad- 
joins the com'ts of justice is divided into four parts : 
the first is reserved for the boys, the second for the 
youths, the third for the men, and the fourth for the 
aged. Each one was restricted to his allotted place; 
the boys and men were required to appear at daybreak, 
while the aged could come, except on certain days, 
whenever they pleased. The youths that were not yet 
married spent the night in arms guarding the com-ts of 
justice. As the Persians are divided into twelve tribes, 
every division of the market-place had twelve overseers ; 



24 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

those over the boys must distinguisli themselves through 
ability to teach, while those over the youth should be 
quahlied to lead them to virtue. The overseers of the 
men were charged to see that the laws and ordinances 
were observed. The overseers of the aged held the 
latter to a perfonnance of their duties. The boys went 
to school to have their sense of justice awakened and 
developed. Therefore the masters spent the day espe- 
cially in holding court among the boys, who, after the 
manner of men, brought indictments against each other 
for theft, violence, cheating, offensive language, etc., 
not only the convicted prisoners, but also the false ac- 
cusers being punished. Ingratitude was punished with 
especial severity; for the Persians hold that the un- 
grateful can love neither the gods, their parents, their 
fatherland, nor their friends, since with ingratitude 
shamelessness is always united, and this latter is the 
most prohfic source of all vices." 

An incident in the life of Cyrus will illusti'ate more 
in detail the emphasis that was laid on justice in Persian 
education. When Cyrus, then a boy of twelve years, 
was brought to the court of his grandfather Astyages, 
he was asked by his mother, " My child, how will you 
learn justice at this despotic court, since your teach- 
ers are at home ? " Cyrus answered, " Mother, I under- 
stand justice very well already. For my teacher, since 
I showed an eagerness for learning, often placed me 
as judge over others ; and only once was I beaten for 
giving a wrong decision. One time a large boy with a 
small coat compelled a little boy with a large coat to 
exchange with him. I decided that it was better for 
both, because each had the coat that fitted him best. 

1- 



PERSIA. 25 

Then I was beaten, and told that my decision would 
have been right if the question had been whom the 
coat fitted ; but since the question had been who was 
the lawful owner of the coat, I ought to have inquired 
to whom the coat really belonged, and whether taking a 
thing by force rendered its possession lawful." 

The Magi were an important class in Persia. They 
had charge of all the religious ceremonies, and were the 
learned class, being at once both priests and philoso- 
phers. So great was their reputation that people from 
distant countries came to receive instruction at their 
hands. The learning of Pythagoras, that gave him 
such eminence among the Greeks, is said to have 
been borrowed in large measure from the Magi. The 
king was required to pass some time under their in- 
struction, in order to learn the principles of govern- 
ing and the right way to worship the gods. After 
ascending the throne, he did not determine any impor- 
tant undertaking without consulting them. From this 
circumstance, they were regarded as the directors of 
princes. 

The one-sidedness of Persian education is evident. 
The state, which was absolutely despotic, was the control- 
ling influence. As physical strength and moral rectitude 
were held to be the quahties of greatest utility, the one 
fitting for war and the other for the administration of 
justice, they alone were emphasized in the long period 
of public training. Intellectual culture was wholly 
neglected in the school-training. Reading and writing, 
if they formed any part of instruction at all, were 
taught only in a very limited measure. The higher 
branches of knowledge, as philosophy, astronomy, and 



26 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

medicine, were pursued only by the Magi. TLe e 
tern of Persia has been denominated state education. 



Jf.. The People of Israel. 

The Semitic race, including the Babylonians, As- 
syrians, Phoenicians, and esj)ecially the children of 
Israel, unites profound contemplation with great prac- 
tical msdom. For many centuries it played an impor- 
tant part in the world's history, founding mighty and 
warhke kingdoms. Great cities arose in the valleys of 
the Euphrates and Tigris, remarkable progress was made 
in the arts and sciences, manufactures and commerce 
flourished, and a considerable degree of culture was 
attained. The forces of nature, particularly the sun 
and the moon, were worshiped as divinities. A kind of 
picture-writing in cuneiform or wedge-shaped charac- 
ters was employed ; and books, consisting of square 
clay tablets written on both sides and treating of geog- 
raphy, history, mathematics, astronomy, and law, were 
collected in public libraries. The Phoenicians were for 
a long time the leading maritime nation of antiquity ; 
and, next after the Jews, they have exerted the widest 
influence upon the Western world. They were the in- 
ventors of our alphabet which, with certain modifica- 
tions, was transmitted to us through the Greeks and 
Pomans. Further than these general statements, which 
indicate the existence of no small degree of learning 
among at least certain classes, we are unacquainted 
with the educational history of Babylonia, Assyria, and 
Phoenicia. 

But the ancient Jews, whose literary remains have 



THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. 2Y 

been pretty fully preserved, deserve further study. 
This people has occupied a unique position in the 
world's history. To it was assigned a peculiar mission ; 
and over its development there watched a special Provi- 
dence granted to no other nation. It was the divinely- 
appointed office of the Jews to preserve, in the midst of 
idolatrous nations, a knowledge of the true God, and to 
furnish at last, in the fullness of time, the great Teacher 
of our race. For a long period, God condescended to 
be the ruler and lawgiver of this people. And even 
after a formal kingdom had been established under Saul, 
the rulers were so controlled by the law previously given 
to Moses and by the prophets who were raised up at 
particular junctures, that the theocratic principle con- 
tinued dominant for many centuries. 

The history of this strange people extends through 
nearly four thousand years. It has experienced alike 
the joys of prosperity and the pains of adversity. But 
whatever the character of its outward circumstances, 
whether exercising a wide dominion from a splendid 
capital, or wandering among all nations as a by-word 
and reproach, it has clung with the utmost tenacity to 
its national character and customs. And the influence 
which it has exerted upon the world is incalculable. It 
has supplied the basis of all true theology ; it has given 
a system of faultless morality ; and, in Christianity, it 
has provided the most perfect form of religion. The 
civilization of Europe and America can be directly 
traced to the Jews. 

The educational history of this people has varied 
with its political and social condition. In this study, 
attention is directed to the most important and typical 



28 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

period. The Jewish nation reached its highest point 
of development — its golden age — under the reigns of 
David and Solomon. 

Among the Jews the theocracy controlled both the 
theory and practice of education. If it gave education 
a very one-sided tendency, it yet laid stress upon an im- 
portant and hitherto neglected principle. The end of 
education among the Jews was to make faithful and 
obedient servants of the living God. It aimed at pre- 
paring each succeeding generation to fulfiU faithfully 
its part in the grand work assigned to that people. The 
divine Lawgiver himself prescribed the principal sub- 
jects and methods of instruction. The law, whether 
moral, ceremonial, or judicial, was to be carefully stud- 
ied. " Therefore shall ye lay up these my words," are 
the Lawgiver's instructions, " in your heart and in your 
soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that 
they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye 
shall teach them your children, speaking of them when 
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest 
by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest 
up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of 
thine house, and upon thy gates." * 

An analysis of this passage reveals several important 
particulars. It shows that the Hebrew parent was not 
only to impart oral instruction to his children, but to 
teach them also reading and writing. As he was re- 
quired to inscribe the words of the Lord upon his door- 
posts and gates, he must himself have learned to vrrite ; 
and, as he wrote them for his children, they must have 
been taught to read. Hence, it appears that the abiHty 

* Deut. xi, 18-20. 



THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. 29 

to read and write was general among the ancient Jews ; 
and, in this particular, they surpassed every other nation 
of antiquity. 

Education was restricted to the family, in which the 
father was the principal teacher. There were no popu- 
lar schools nor professional teachers. Yet the instruc- 
tion of the Jew, as is evident from the Pentateuch, em- 
braced a vast number of particulars. His whole life was 
hemmed in with minute regulations ; and ignorance was 
not accepted as a valid excuse for transgression. The 
various kinds of food were prescribed ; the principles 
that were to govern their relations to one another were 
specifically given ; directions for the treatment of stran- 
gers and servants were minutely laid down ; the facts of 
their wonderful history and the precepts of the moral 
law had to be carefully studied ; and the burdensome 
ritual of the tabernacle and temple had to become thor- 
oughly familiar. 

Among the potent educational agencies of the Jews, 
that of the annual national festivals merits consideration. 
These festivals, three in number, required every adult 
male to present himself annually before the tabernacle 
or temple at Jerusalem. Commemorating important 
national events, they kept the people acquainted with 
their past history. The passover recalled the delivery 
from Egyptian bondage; the pentecost, the terrific 
splendors that attended the giving of the law ; the feast 
of tabernacles, the hardships and miraculous preserva- 
tion in the wilderness. These frequent reunions not 
only contributed to national and religious unity, but 
they exerted a strong educating influence upon the 
people. 



30 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

The higher education was not wholly neglected, 
though no institutions of purely secular learning were 
estaolished. The priests, whose studies embraced a 
wide range of subjects, constituted the learned class. 
" In order to answer their destination," says Jahn, in his 
"Hebrew Commonwealth," "the Levites more than 
other Hebrews were to study the book of the law ; to 
preserve and disseminate it in exact copies ; to perform 
the duties of judges and genealogists, and consequently 
to be theologians, jurists, and historians. . . . As the 
priests and Levites were to test the accuracy of weights 
and measures, of which there were several models pre- 
served in the sanctuary, it was necessary that they 
should understand something of mathematics; and as 
they were to determine and announce the movable 
feasts, new moons, years, and intercalary years, they had 
occasion for the study of astronomy. The priests were 
to instruct the people in religion and law, and to solve 
questions which might arise npon these subjects. Ac- 
cording to the spirit of the institution, the Levites were 
also instructors of the people, which office they in real- 
ity executed when they publicly sang psalms according 
to the arrangement of David, and to which they were 
expressly appointed by Jehoshaphat." 

The schools of the prophets, of which there are only 
scanty notices in the sacred books, appear to have been 
private institutions for the study of poetry, medicine, 
and, in particular, the law. They were presided over 
by men venerable for their age and abihty, and patron- 
ized by youths and adults. They corresponded, in some 
degree, to the modem university, the law, however, 
overshadowing all other studies. The influence of these 



THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. 31 

schools can not have been otherwise than favorable to 
Jewish culture. They were in a flourishing condition 
under the reign of David ; and it is not improbable that 
the " sweet singer of Israel " himself had profited by 
their instruction. It was at this time that religious po- 
etry reached its zenith. The Psalms of David, as por- 
traying the deepest and most varied religious experi- 
ence, have never been superseded. After a lapse of 
nearly three thousand years, they are regarded as an in- 
valuable poetic and literary treasury ; and some of its 
precious gems are set in the memory of each passing 
generation. 

" From a survey of the whole matter," says Wines, 
" the conclusion seems warranted that the education of 
the Hebrew people, conducted mainly, though not whol- 
ly, under the domestic roof, was nevertheless a national 
education, and worthy of the imitation of other nations. 
Especially does it deserve to be studied and copied so 
far as that branch of education is concerned which con- 
sists in development as distinguished from instruction. 
The Hebrew law required an early, constant, vigorous, 
and efficient training of the disposition, judgment, man- 
ners, and habits, both of thought and feeling. The 
sentiments held to be proper to man in society, were 
imbibed with the milk of infancy. The manners con- 
sidered becoming in adults were sedulously imparted in 
childhood. The habits regarded as conducive to indi- 
vidual advancement, social happiness, and national re- 
pose and prosperity, were cultivated with the utmost 
diligence. The greatest pains were taken to acquaint 
the Hebrew youth with their duties, as well as their 
rights, both personal and political. In a word, the 



32 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

main channel of thonglit and feeling for eaeli genera- 
tion was marked out by the generation preceding it, 
and the stream for the most part flowed with a steady 
current." 

The name given to the ancient Jewish system is 
theocratic education. 

5. Egypt. 

In Egypt we have, perhaps, the oldest civihzation 
in the world. The great Pyramids, which indicate con- 
siderable intellectual development, were erected more 
than two thousand years before Christ. The ancients 
looked upon Egypt as a school of wisdom. Greece sent 
thither illustrious philosophers and lawgivers — Pythag- 
oras and Plato, Lycurgus and Solon — to complete their 
studies. In the Scripture it is said, in praise of Moses, 
that he " was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyp- 
tians." 

At an early period Egypt made high attainments in 
the mechanic arts. Great perfection was reached in 
spinning and weaving ; glass was manufactured, and 
some of the secrets of coloring it have baffled modem 
ingenuity; iron and steel, together with the common 
agricultural and mechanical implements made from 
them, were in use. Magnificent ruins still make a pro- 
found impression upon the beholder ; while single speci- 
mens of art have been transported over distant seas to 
adorn the public places of great modem cities. The 
Temple of Kamak, from its massive forms and brilliant 
decorations, has been pronounced the most magnificent 
of man's architectural works. 



EGYPT. 33 

The Egyptians were mild in disposition and gentle 
in manners. Like the people of India, they were di- 
vided into castes, the highest of which was composed of 
the priests. The priests possessed immense wealth and 
influence, were supported by the state, and held one 
third of the land free of tax. They were the chief rep- 
resentatives of learning, and the recognized intellect- 
ual leaders of the people. The military class ranked 
next to the priests. The rest of the population was 
divided into three general classes : the first included the 
farmers and boatmen ; the second, the mechanics and 
tradesmen; the third, herdsmen, fishermen, and com- 
mon laborers. 

The position of the priests has been portrayed by 
Jahn with an interesting particularity. " The Egyptian 
priests," he says, " were a separate tribe, which was 
divided into three subordinate classes; and they per- 
formed not only the services of religion but the duties 
of all the civil oflaces to which learning was necessary. 
They therefore devoted themselves in a peculiar manner 
to the cultivation of the sciences. This learned nobil- 
ity, so to speak, was strictly hereditary, and no one from 
another tribe could be received among its members. 
They studied natural philosophy, natural history, medi- 
cine, mathematics (particularly astronomy and geom- 
etry), history, civil polity, and jurisprudence. They 
were practicing physicians, inspectors of weights and 
measures, surveyors of land, astronomical calculators, 
keepers of the archives, historians, receivers of the cus- 
toms, judges, and counselors of the king, who was him- 
self a member of their tribe. In short, they — like Ra- 
guel, the priest of Midian, and Melchizedek, the priest 



34 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

and king of Salem — formed, guided, and ruled the peo- 
ple, by establishing civil regulations, performing sacred 
services, and imparting religious instruction. They 
were liberally rewarded for the discharge of these im- 
portant duties. They not only possessed large estates 
in land, which, if we may credit Diodorus Siculus, oc- 
cupied a third part of Egypt; but they also received 
from the king a stated salary for their services as civil 
officers. However suspicious such an order may appear 
to many at the present day, it was admirably adapted to 
those times, and by means of it Egypt was raised far 
above all the nations of antiquity, both in regard to her 
civil institutions and her advancement in the sciences. 
Hence, even the Greeks in ancient times were accus- 
tomed to borrow their politics and their learning from 
the Egyptians." 

The foregoing facts prepare us for a better under- 
standing of Egyptian education. This great interest 
was under the absolute control of the priests. The edu- 
cation of the lower classes was of the most elementary 
nature. The youth destined for business pursuits were 
commonly taught reading, wi'iting, and arithmetic, while 
the rest learned from parents or relatives the manual 
occupation to be followed through life. The method 
of teaching arithmetic has been praised by Plato, and 
seems to have anticipated some of our modern methods, 
inasmuch as numbers were taught in the concrete by 
means of plays. There were two species of writing 
prevalent : the demotic, which seems to have been a 
hybrid between hieroglyphic and syllabic writing, was 
in use among the common people ; while the hieratic, 
which was more purely hieroglyphic, was employed by 



EGYPT. 35 

the priests. The bark of the papyrus-reed, which grew 
in jungles along the J^ile, was used instead of paper. 
The priestly and warrior castes enjoyed greater educa- 
tional advantages. At Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopo- 
lis, there were institutions for superior instruction which 
were open to these two classes. The course of study 
embraced language, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, 
natural science, and religion, though the most advanced 
instruction was reserved for the priesthood alone. The 
annual overflow of the Nile, which destroyed landmarks 
in many cases, made a knowledge of mathematics, par- 
ticularly of geometry, of high importance, and hence 
this subject received especial attention. Gymnastics 
and music were excluded from the general means of 
culture. " It is not the custom in Egypt," says Diodo- 
rus, " to learn gymnastics and music ; it is believed that 
the former is dangerous to the youth, and that the latter 
is not only useless, but even hurtful, because it renders 
men effeminate." Yet in Chemnis gymnastics was 
taught, and music was employed in connection with 
religious services. A religious element was not wanting 
in Egyptian education. Reverence for the priesthood 
and religion, and regard for the usages handed down by 
tradition, were carefully inculcated. The Egyptian 
system has been designated priestly education. 

In the seventh century before Christ a change took 
place in the educational practice of Egypt. Under 
Psammetichus, elements of Greek and Phoenician cul- 
ture were introduced. He concluded treaties with the 
Grecian states, and opened his cities to foreign commerce. 
His children were taught in the Grecian sciences. The 
Greek language formed for a time a subject of study. 



36 THE ORIENTAL NATIONS. 

At a still later period Alexandria attained to great 
prominence, and became the center not only of trade 
but also of culture for the Mediterranean states. As its 
culture, however, was cosmopolitan rather than Egyp- 
tian, embodying Grecian and Jewish elements to a large 
extent, it does not here demand further notice. 



II. 

THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

The ancient classical nations, Greece and Rome, are 
surrounded with a peculiar charm. They are the earli- 
est representatives of European civilization, and as such 
they hare placed us under great and permanent obliga- 
tions. Though the stream of culture has broadened 
and deepened since their glory waned, receiving in par- 
ticular the mighty tributaries of Christianity and mod- 
ern science and invention, it must yet trace its origin to 
the renowned cities of Athens and Rome. They have 
left us a rich heritage in the domains of science and 
government ; they have transmitted heroic deeds of pa- 
triotism that have never been sm'passed ; in architecture 
and sculpture they have furnished models and inspira- 
tion -for all time ; and in the most important departments 
of literature, in poetry, history, oratory, and philoso- 
phy, they have produced works of exalted genius and 
perpetual worth. These nations must always retain a 
prominent place in the history of the world. 

But the prominence long held by Greece and Rome 
will be less marked in the future. At present they oc- 
cupy a smaller share of the world's attention than was 
formerly the case. Many young and vigorous rivals 



38 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

have appeared. Great modem nations have arisen whose 
achievements and importance demand recognition. 
They have produced literatures that in depth and ex- 
tent, if not in form, must be conceded to surpass an- 
tiquity. They have taken up the sciences as left by the 
ancient world, and have led them to new conquests. 
Sciences of which the ancients knew nothing have been 
developed, and have made rich contributions to modem 
progress. Commerce and invention, under the control 
of humane ideas, have largely broken down narrow na- 
tional prejudices and made a brotherhood of the nations 
of the earth. The telegraph, the press, and the rail- 
road, working in harmonious co-operation, bring the 
whole world, "v\^Tth its manifold interests, thoughts, and 
deeds, within the circle of our daily thought. In view 
of these facts, it is safe to say that Greece and Rome are 
destined to lose something of their former pre-eminence 
in the world's thought. 

These two nations naturally occupy a prominent 
place in the history of education. They have left us 
tolerably complete records of their thought and achieve- 
ments. In education they mark an obvious advance 
upon the defective systems of the Orient. The indi- 
vidual comes into a certain prominence. He is not 
crushed beneath the weight of some relentless external 
power, but attains at length to a degree of personal 
freedom. To some extent at least, the worth of the in- 
dividual is appreciated, and, vsdthin certain limits, he is 
left to himself in the pursuit of wealth and happiness. 
Education becomes the subject of careful, scientific 
thought, and enlarged views of its nature are promul- 
gated. It is controlled by higher principles. The 



GREECE. 39 

range of studies is widened. Beautiful results are ob- 
tained, as exhibited in the physical and intellectual life 
of the people. No other nations have exerted such im- 
measurable influence upon the world. 

1. Greece. 

Greece, as the oldest of the ancient classical nations, 
naturally claims our attention first. It is about half the 
size of Pennsylvania, and possesses a mild climate and 
rich diversity of surface. Its numerous coast indenta- 
tions give it peculiar facilities for commerce. These 
facts are worthy of mention, for they were not without 
influence upon the well-endowed and versatile inhab- 
itants. As a branch of the Aryan family, the Greeks 
are of the same blood as the leading nations of Europe. 
Greece was divided into a considerable number of 
little states. This gave occasion to almost incessant 
strife, during which one and another of the states, ac- 
cording to the skill of its leaders, or the number of its 
allies, gained the ascendency. In the history of educa- 
tion, however, only two states, or rather two cities, are 
worthy of consideration. These are Sparta and Athens. 
It is here alone, so far as the records have descended to 
us, that a complete system of education was developed. 
During the heroic age to which belongs the immortal 
siege of Troy, education possessed but a single character 
in all Greece. It was patriarchal. The father trained 
his sons to physical strength and filial piety ; and the 
mother trained her daughters to household duties and 
domestic virtues. In the language of Schiller, "to 
throw the spear and honor the gods " was the end of 



40 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

male education. At a later date, when Greece liad 
attained its highest power, when Leonidas defended 
Therraopylse, and Miltiades won the field of Marathon, 
the educational systems of Sparta and Athens were in 
striking contrast, and contributed no httle to perpetuate 
and imbitter the feud existing between these two proud 
cities. 

(a.) SPARTA. 

This city was inhabited by the Dorians, a hardy and 
warlike race of Greeks, that held tenaciously to old cus- 
toms, and sternly set themselves in opposition to the 
highest forms of culture. In the ninth century before 
Christ, Lycurgus prepared a constitution for Sparta 
corresponding to the Doric character and the peculiar 
circumstances of the state. The Spartans, including 
only about nine thousand families, were but a small part 
of the population of Laconia, though they were the con- 
quering and ruling class. There were two other classes 
still more numerous, and sorely discontented with Spar- 
tan domination : these were the Perioeci, who lived as 
freemen in the towns adjacent to Sparta; and the Helots, 
who were bound to the soil as serfs. In order to main- 
tain their supremacy in the midst of this hostile popu- 
lation, it was necessary for the Spartans to be constantly 
vigilant and strong. The system of Lycurgus, harsh 
and repulsive in nearly all its features, aimed at training 
a powerful body of soldiers. It transformed Sparta into 
a perpetual training-camp. Lycurgus made a new dis- 
tribution of land ; he made iron the circulating medium 
of the country ; and he required the male portion of the 
population to live in common at public tables. By 



GREECE. 41 

these sweeping regulations he struck down many evils 
in the commonwealth. "With the abolition of wealth 
and commerce, pride, avarice and luxury were destroyed. 
The sternest simplicity prevailed. " The most masterly 
stroke of this great lawgiver," says Plutarch, " by which 
he struck a yet more effectual blow against luxury and 
the desire of riches, was the ordinance he made that 
they should all eat in common, of the same bread, of the 
same meat, and of kinds that were specified, and should 
not spend their hves at home, lying on costly couches at 
splendid tables, delivering themselves up into the hands 
of their tradesmen and cooks, to fatten them in comers, 
like greedy brutes, and to ruin not their minds only, 
but their very bodies, which, enfeebled by indulgence 
and excess, would stand in need of long sleep, warm 
bathing, freedom from work, and, in a word, of as 
much care and attendance as if they were continually 
sick." 

The education of Sparta was chiefly physical. The 
children were regarded as the property of the state. 
The new-born babe was brought before a body of 
judges, and, unless it was approved of as a strong and 
promising child, it was destroyed. Up to the age of 
seven years, the child remained under the care of its 
natural guardians. After that time the boys were 
placed in public educational establishments, where they 
were subjected to a rigorous discipline. Their fare was 
coarse and meager ; their clothing scanty ; and their beds, 
piles of rushes plucked with their own hands from the 
banks of the river. " After they were twelve years old," 
says Plutarch, "they were no longer allowed to wear 
any under-garment ; they had one coat to serve them a 



42 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

year ; their bodies were hard and dry, with but Httle 
acquaintance with baths and unguents; these human 
indulgences they were allowed only on some particular 
days in the year. They lodged together in little bands 
upon beds made of the rushes, which grew by the banks 
of the river Eurotas, which they were to break off with 
their hands without a knife ; if it were winter, they 
mingled some thistle-down with their rushes, which it 
was thought had the property of giving warmth." They 
were encouraged to supplement their daily allowance of 
food by theft. If detected, they were severely whipped 
for their want of skill. In order to strengthen and 
harden the body, they were continually trained in gym- 
nastic exercises, the chief of which were jumping, run- 
ning, wrestling, spear-throwing, and quoits. In the sys- 
tem of Lycurgus but small provision was made for 
hterary culture. Reading and writing were taught only 
to a very limited extent. The absence of formal intel- 
lectual training, however, was partly compensated by 
the constant association of the young with the old, from 
whom they imbibed lessons of practical wisdom. At 
the public tables they were instructed in state affairs by 
the conversation of leading men ; they learned to con- 
verse in an intelHgent and agreeable manner ; and by a 
natural sj)irit of imitation they early acquired a digni- 
fied bearing and practical wisdom beyond their years. 
Their judgment was cultivated by frequent questions 
requiring well-considered answers. A sententious mode 
of speech was carefully inculcated. Lycurgus himself, 
if we may judge by certain anecdotes related of him, 
affected a curt and energetic style. To a Spartan who 
urged the establishment of a democracy in Lacedaemon, 



GREECE. 43 

he said, " Begin, friend, and set it up in your family." 
To another who asked why he permitted such trivial 
sacrifices to the gods, he replied, " That we may always 
have something to offer them." -^ 

The moral education of Sparta presented many ad- 
mirable points. The Spartan youth were taught to 
maintain an absolute control over their appetites, and to 
observe temperance in all their habits. Drunkenness 
was looked upon as a shame. A modest and retiring 
manner was inculcated until the moment for action 
came ; then the Spartan youth were quick, aggressive, 
and strong, ready to purchase victory with their Kves. 
They were inured to heat and cold, hunger and fatigue ; 
they were accustomed to wear the same clothing winter 
and summer, and to bear great physical suffering with 
impassive countenance. Obedience to parents and rev- 
erence for estabhshed usages were carefully cultivated. 
The respect entertained for age was so great that it was 
said to be a pleasure to grow old in Sparta. This re- 
spect was shown by saluting the aged, rising up in their 
presence, making place for them in company, and, above 
all, by receiving with submissive spirit their advice and 
reproofs. An old man once entered a theater at Athens 
too late to get a seat. As he stood hesitating a mo- 
ment, he was beckoned by a group of young Athenians. 
When he had made his way to them, they retained their 
seats, and thus exposed the old man to ridicule. As he 
withdrew in confusion, he came to the benches occupied 
by the Lacedaemonian embassadors, who rose in a body 
to receive the old man among them. The Athenians, 
suddenly struck by this display of characteristic Spartan 
virtue, burst forth in applause ; whereupon the old man 



44 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

exclaimed, " The Atlienians know what is right, but the 
Spartans practice it." 

The mnsical education of the Spartans has been well 
described by Plutarch. " Nor was their instruction in 
music and verse," he says, "less carefully attended to 
than their habits of grace and good breeding in conver- 
sation. And their very songs had a life and spirit in 
them that inflamed and possessed men's minds with an 
enthusiasm and ardor for action ; the style of them was 
plain and without affectation ; the subject always serious 
and moral ; most usually it was in praise of such men 
as had died in defense of their country, or in derision of 
those that had been cowards — the former they declared 
happy and glorified, the life of the latter they described 
as most miserable and abject." 

The girls were not neglected. In the interests of a 
hardy race, they were encouraged to engage in gym- 
nastic exercises, in which the claims of modesty were 
often forgotten. This physical training was not with- 
out perceptible results, and the Spartan women became 
the admiration of all Greece for their development, 
strength, and beauty. They cherished a passionate love 
of country. ISTothing appeared to them so shameful as 
cowardice, and the Spartan mother could hear unmoved 
of sons and husbands slain in battle, if they died facing 
the enemy. 

Though crude in form, and destructive of the best 
instincts of our nature, the system of Sparta admirably 
subserved its purpose. It made the Spartans a powerful 
band of warriors, secured them continual supremacy in 
Laconia, and raised them for a time to the leadership of 
Greece. It produced Leonidas. " The Spartan educa- 



GREECE. 45 

tion," to quote Thirlwall's excellent summary, "was 
simple in its objects ; it was not the result of any gen- 
eral view of human nature, or of any attempt to unfold 
its various capacities ; it aimed at training men who 
were to live in the midst of difficulty and danger, and 
could be safe themselves only while they held rule over 
others. The citizen was to be always ready for the de- 
fense of himself and his country, at home and abroad ; 
and he was, therefore, to be equally fitted to command 
and to obey. His body, his mind, and his character 
were formed for this purpose, and for no other ; and, 
hence, the Spartan system, making directly for its main 
end, and rejecting all that was foreign to it, attained, 
within its own sphere, to a perfection which it is im- 
possible not to admire." 

We may call the system of Sparta martial education. 

(b.) PYTHAGORAS. 

At this point it is proper to notice the labors of a 
great educator who in spirit, though not by birth, was 
allied to the Dorians. It is Pythagoras. He is an in- 
teresting character, whether we regard the keen pene- 
tration of his intellect, his moral excellence, his system 
of education, or the influence exerted by him upon his 
contemporaries. As he left no written records, not a 
few mythical stories have been connected with his origin, 
and many of his teachings are involved in obscurity. 
He was born about 580 b. c, on. the island of Samos. 
After spending many years in private study, he sought 
to increase his store of knowledge by travel. In Egypt 
he came into possession of the wisdom of the priests, by 
which his subsequent teachings were perceptibly influ- 



46 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

enced. " The spectacle of Egyptian habits," says Grote, 
" the conversation of the priests, and the initiation into 
various mysteries or secret rites and stories not accessi- 
ble to the general public, may very naturally have im- 
pressed the mind of Pythagoras, and given him that 
turn for mystic observance, asceticism, and peculiarity 
of diet and clothing, which manifested itself from the 
same cause among several of his contemporaries, but 
which was not a common phenomenon in the primitive 
Greek religion." Subsequently he founded a school at 
Crotona, in Southern Italy, that attained to wide influ- 
ence and celebrity. He was careful to receive only stu- 
dents of character and ability. They lived together as 
one family or brotherhood, the expense being defrayed 
from a common fund. The course of study, which was 
comprehensive, was divided into two parts distin- 
guished as exoteric and the esoteric. It was only 
after the satisfactory completion of the former prelimi- 
nary course, which occupied three years, that the stu- 
dent was adniitted to the profounder studies of the 
esoteric course, and to a closer fellowship with the great 
master himseK. 

Pythagoras was not very far from grasping the true 
idea of education. The key-note of his system was 
harmony. He wished to introduce into human life the 
harmony which he discovered in the universe at large, 
and which produced the music of the spheres. He 
aimed at harmony of body and soul ; harmony between 
parents and children ; harmony in social life ; harmony 
between man and God. He recognized the innate evil 
tendencies of our nature which generate discord ; and 
in education he sought a remedy. " At birth," says 



GREECE. 47 

Karl Schmidt, in summarizing tlie views of Pythagoras 
on this point, " man is very imperfect, and naturally 
inclined to arrogance ; through an uninterrupted educa- 
tion, lasting throughout the whole life, he mast be freed 
from these innate evils, and be elevated to purity of 
heart and mind. Early training to abstinence in eat- 
ing, sleeping, and speaking, to temperance in all par- 
ticulars, to mutual improvement through hearty friend- 
ship, and profound scientific culture, lead in this direc- 
tion. The work of man on earth is to attain to true 
knowledge — to knowledge of those subjects which in 
their nature are unchangeable and eternal. And wisdom 
has no other end than to free the himaan spirit through 
instruction from the slavish yoke of sensual desires, 
to conduct it to a likeness with God, and to make it 
worthy to enter hereafter into the fellowship of the 
gods. As for all things, so also for men, harmony is 
the end of life." 

The course of study in the school of Pythagoras 
embraced mathematics, physics, geography, metaphys- 
ics, and medicine. Especial prominence was given to 
mathematics, which Pythagoras regarded as the noblest 
science. Number governed the creative processes in 
the beginning, and is involved in. all cosmical motion 
and phenomena. The devotion of Pythagoras to this 
science was not fruitless. To him we owe the discovery 
of the geometrical truth that the square of the hypote- 
nuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of 
the squares of the other two sides. 

Religion formed the basis of moral action. Pythag- 
oras, by a profound insight into nature, reached the con- 
ception of one God, the universal Euler. Him it is 



48 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

the duty of mau to serve. Eeligions ceremonies were 
prominent in the school at Crotona ; and morning, noon, 
and night, offerings were regularly made. Temperance, 
courage, obedience, fidelity, and moral purity were 
among the virtues constantly enforced by precept and 
exacted in practice. Pythagoras believed in the metem- 
psychosis or transmigration of the souls of deceased men 
into the lower animals. On one occasion, seeing a dog 
beaten and hearing him howl, he desired the striker to 
desist, saying, " It is the soul of a friend of mine, whom 
I recognize by his voice." Ovid represents Pythagoras 
as saying : 

What then is death, but ancient matter dressed 
In some new figure and a varied vest ? 
Thus all things are but altered, nothing dies ; 
And here and there the unbodied spirit flies, 
By time, or force, or sickness dispossessed, 
And lodges where it fights in man or beast. 

Much stress was laid upon music because of its har- 
monizing influence upon the soul. At night the pas- 
sions of the day were banished by song ; and in the 
morning, song gently incited to the duties of the day. 

The method of instruction was dogmatic. The as- 
sertion of Pythagoras was held as a sufficient test of 
truth. This circiTmstance gave rise to the expression 
ipse dixit — he himself said it — which put an end to all 
discussion. In many particulars, the system of Pythag- 
oras showed its affinity with the Doric spirit. It was 
strict in morals ; severe in discipfine ; partial to physi- 
cal training ; authoritative in method ; and aristocratic 
in tendency. It was this last fact that brought the 
school into disfavor, and then into open conflict with the 



GREECE. 49 

masses of Crotona. At length the building in which 
Pythagoras taught was set on fire by a mob ; and 
whether he escaped by flight or perished in the flames 
is uncertain. This was the end of the school which for 
a considerable period had exerted a strong moral, intel- 
lectual, and political influence in Southern Italy. 

(c.) ATHENS. 

Attica was a small but beautiful district in Central 
Greece. In size it was hardly equal to one of our coun- 
ties ; and, at the time of its greatest prosperity, it did 
not number more than haK a miUion people, of whom 
nearly four hundred thousand were slaves. Though in- 
significant in size and population, it was in Athens, the 
capital of Attica, that the restless and brilliant genius of 
the Greek wrought out the most perfect form of heathen 
civilization. Nowhere else in Greece did education, 
both in its theoretical and practical aspects, attain so 
high a development. 

The beautiful was an object of constant endeavor in 
Athenian life. The taste was highly cultivated. The 
city was tilled with model statuary ; the drama received 
a frigidly chastened form ; the Acropolis was crowned 
with architectural magnificence. A beautiful soul in a 
beautiful body — this was the ciiief end of Attic educa- 
tion. It was attained by a harmonious union of physi- 
cal and intellectual culture. This conception of the 
purpose of education is indeed incomplete ; but it has 
the merit of laying stress upon important elements that 
in other ages and countries have been too often neg- 
lected. The educational system of Athens has pro- 
duced results that are worthy of admiration. 

3 



50 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

The prosperity of Athens dates from the time of 
Solon, who lived in the sixth century before Christ. 
He was counted among the seven sages of Greece, and 
was the lawgiver of Athens, as Lycurgus was of Sparta. 
Appointed to draft a constitution to replace the cruel 
code of Draco, he established laws noted for their wis- 
dom and humanity. Parents were forbidden to sell or 
pawn their childi'en — an unnatural and barbarous cus- 
tom previously tolerated. Education was encouraged. 
In addition to intellectual training, the youth were re- 
quired to learn a business or trade that would serve as a 
means of livelihood. Any father that neglected to give 
his sons a practical training, forfeited all claims upon 
their support in his old age. This measure of Solon's 
laid a solid foundation for the prosperity of the state, 
and brought labor into honor at a time when it was gen- 
erally held dishonorable. 

But we pass to the time of Pericles, the golden age 
of Greece, for the closer study of Attic education. The 
social condition of Athens, Pericles himseK has portrayed 
in his famous funeral oration. " We enjoy," he says, 
" a form of government which does not copy the laws 
of our neighbors ; but we are ourselves rather a pattern 
to others than imitators of them. In name, from its 
not being administered for the benefit of the few but of 
the many, it is called a democracy ; but with regard to 
its laws, all enjoy equahty, as concerns their private dif- 
ferences ; while with regard to public rank, according 
as each man has reputation for anytliing, he is preferred 
for public honors, not so much from consideration of 
party as of merit ; nor, again, on the ground of poverty, 
while he is able to do the state any good service, is he 



GREECE. 51 

prevented by tlie obscurity of liis position. . . . More- 
over, we have provided for our spirits the most numer- 
ous recreations from labors, by celebrating games and 
sacrifices through the whole year, and by maintaining 
elegant private establishments, the gratification daily 
received from which drives away sadness. Owing to 
the greatness too of our city, everything from every 
land is imported into it ; and it is our lot to reap with 
no more peculiar enjoyment the good things which are 
produced here, than those of the rest of the world 
likewise." 

In Attica, only the freemen, who constituted about 
one fifth of the population, were allowed the advantages 
of education. Female education was neglected. The 
wife was servilely subject to the husband. As a rule, it 
was only women without character who sought to in- 
crease their charms by intellectual culture. The state 
had no further connection with education than to main- 
tain a general supervision over the schools, and to pro- 
vide gymnasia for the physical training of the youth. 
Education was an individual' interest ; and it was left to 
the wisdom or ability of the father to determine what 
culture his sons should receive. But, as the popular 
sentiment was highly favorable to the cause of learning, 
education was general among the freemen. Even those 
who received no fonnal school-training, were not left 
wholly without culture ; for, in the democratic city of 
Athens, the people mingled freely together, and the 
numerous works of art had an elevating influence. 

The education of the Athenian youth extended 
through eighteen years, which were divided into three 
nearly equal periods. The first period included the do- 



52 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

mestic training. Among the poor, the mother was the 
teacher ; but among the wealthy, nm-ses were employed. 
These had entire supervision over the child, and were 
its constant companions. It is interesting to know that 
the children of Athens more than two thousand years 
ago were entertained by the same devices in use to-day, 
among which may be named rattles, dolls, swings, 
balls, stick-horses, little wagons, and toy houses and 
ships. 

The boyhood education began with the seventh year. 
The boy was then removed from the nurse's care, and 
placed under the charge of a pedagogue, usually an aged 
and trustworthy slave, under whose care he remained 
throughout the rest of his education. The pedagogue 
performed the important functions of servant, guardian, 
counselor, and moral censor. He attended his charge in 
walks and amusements, and accompanied him to and 
from school. Instruction was given by private teachers. 
The better class occupied comfortable rooms in which 
they received their pupils ; while those without means 
imparted instruction in public places, receiving but little 
remuneration. Reading and writing were the subjects 
first studied. In teaching reading, the Athenian in- 
structor employed the alphabetic system, and encount- 
ered all the difiiculties growing out of the dissimilarity 
between the names of the letters and their sounds as 
combined in words and syllables. A wax tablet and 
stylus were the earliest writing-materials. The pupil 
imitated a copy set by the teacher. After these element- 
ary studies were sufficiently mastered, arithmetic, gram- 
mar, and literature were taken up. The "Iliad" and 
the " Odyssey " were among the earliest reading-books of 



GREECE. 53 

the Greek. These, with other poetical and prose works, 
were carefully studied, extended portions being copied 
with the pen, and memorized for declamation. Geog- 
raphy was learned chiefly from the second book of the 
"Iliad," which contains the well-known catalogue of 
ships, and describes the various districts from which the 
Grecian forces came. 

At the age of twelve or fourteen, the sons of the 
poor usually relinquished study, in order to learn a trade 
or engage in work, while the sons of the wealthy entered 
upon a higher course, embracing grammar, poetry, 
music, rhetoric, mathematics, and philosophy. Much 
of this higher instruction was given in the gymnasia, 
which, at tirst, places of physical exercise only, became 
at length centers of intellectual culture also. 

A gymnastic training ran parallel with mental cult- 
ure through its whole extent. This training was given 
by private teachers in their own or in public gymnastic 
schools. The elementary gymnastic schools, designed 
exclusively for boys, were called palsestra. Here the 
exercises consisted in running, jumping, wrestHng, and 
other similar sports. The art of swimming was almost 
universal. " He knows neither the alphabet nor swim- 
ming," was a Greek expression for an ignoramus. The 
later physical training was received in the state gym- 
nasia. The exercises assumed a more manly character, 
and consisted of leaping, running, wrestling, throwing 
the javelin, and hurling the discus or quoit. This was 
the classic course of gymnastics, and is known by the 
name pentathlon. The gymnastic discipline of Athens 
had a different purpose from that of Sparta. The Athe- 
nian sought beauty of body ; and with what success, the 



54 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

model forms of Grecian statuary bear lasting witness. 
The Spartan aimed at strength and endurance ; but, in 
connection with these qualities, he often developed a 
coarseness that appeared to the refined Athenian taste 
almost brutal. 

Music formed an important part of education. It 
was believed to exert a very ennobling influence upon 
the mind and character. Poems were set to music and 
sung. The principal musical instrument was the cithara, 
a stringed instrument corresponding to the modern 
guitar, to which it has given name. The flute, though 
always used at banquets and public festivals, was less 
popular, because it distorted tlie face and was unsuited 
to vocal accompaniment. " He who followed music as 
a profession," says Falke, " was looked upon as a mere 
laborer, and enjoyed but little respect ; but, as a part of 
education and culture, singing and playing the cithara 
were an ornament to the freeman. Already, in Homer's 
day, Achilles sang and played; and to Epaminondas, 
the disciple of philosophers, the victorious leader of 
state and army, it was imputed as an honor that he was 
a good musician, and even dancer. Music was not in- 
troduced into the schools as a means of pleasure and 
amusement ; but it was supposed to have a purifying 
and educating power. It was studied for the elevating 
influence which it exerted upon the soul." 

The moral education of the Athenian was defective. 
It lacked a true religious basis. The gods of the Greeks 
were merely deified men, beautiful, indeed, in body and 
mind, but stained with ignoble passions. The Greek 
could not rise above his gods. In many points, how- 
ever, the moral education of Athens is worthy of com- 



GREECE. 55 

mendation. Patriotism and courage, respect for the 
religious rites of the city, modesty and urbanity of 
manner, a constant regard for outward propriety, were 
carefully inculcated. The refined taste of the Athenian 
abolished grossness from his vdces ; and, like the Paris- 
ian, his counterpart in the modem world, he sinned in 
an aesthetic way. 

At eighteen the youth entered the military service 
of the state. They were placed as guards at frontier 
posts, and were subject to severe discipline. Two years 
later they were formally enrolled among the voters, and 
admitted to the privileges of full citizenship. The oath 
administered on this occasion was as follows : " I will 
not bring reproach upon our sacred arms, nor desert the 
comrade at my side, whoever he may be. For our 
sanctuaries and laws I will fight alone or with others. 
My country I will leave, not in a worse, but in a better 
condition. I will at all times submit willingly to the 
judges and established ordinances, and will not consent 
that others infringe or disobey them. I will honor the 
estabhshed religious worship. The gods be my wit- 
ness ! " 

Athenian education, though far above any system 
preceding it, is by no means ideal. Its fundamental 
idea is not correct. The beautiful, as an aesthetic con- 
ception, is not the supreme end of life. The moral and 
the useful are of higher significance. The worth of 
man was not fully grasped in Attica. Slaves were ex- 
cluded from all education, and women were held in 
servile subordination. Education in Athens was par- 
ticularistic. Its aim was not a manhood of typical and 
universal perfection, but the beautiful Athenian ; and 



56 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

Lence it had not breadth enough to become the educar 
tional system of our race. 

The system of Athens has been called msthetic ed\v- 
cation. 

(d.) soceates. 

After the Persian war, Athens declined. This nat- 
urally affected education. The teachers degenerated 
into sophists, who were less concerned about depth of 
knowledge than beauty of style, and less occupied with 
truth than with plausibility. This unmanly and dishon- 
est superficiality was vigorously opposed by Socrates, 
one of the most eminent characters of Grecian history. 
He was born at Athens, 469 b. c, his father being a 
sculptor. Socrates pursued the same occupation for 
some years with success; but he subsequently relin- 
quished it to devote himself to study. His personal 
appearance was unattractive ; " his projecting eyeballs, 
his depressed nose, with upturned and dilated nostrils, 
his large, unwieldy body, gave to his whole appearance 
somewhat of the satyr, altogether in keeping with the 
tone of his discourse, which not seldom breathed forth 
a vein of latent mockery, and pursued, with bitter ex- 
pressions of scorn and irony, every arrogant pretender 
to wisdom and virtue." He possessed a strong body, 
and was capable of great endurance. He took part in 
the Peloponnesian war as a heavy-armed soldier, and 
won the admiration of his associates by his strength and 
courage. His wife Xanthippe was a notorious scold, for 
which, no doubt, she had too much occasion; but he 
endured her railing with a truly model patience and 
resignation. 



GREECE. 57 

Socrates left no writings ; but Plato and Xenophon, 
two of Ins most distinguished disciples, have given full 
accounts of his teaching. He did not establish a private 
school, but frequented the gymnasia and public walks, 
conversing with whoever was willing to listen to him. 
At a later period, when his reputation had been estab- 
lished, a circle of youths gathered around him as disci- 
ples. He affected great ignorance ; and his superiority 
over others he based on the fact that he alone was con- 
scious of ignorance. 

Often a tiresome talker and an endless quibbler, 
Socrates yet held many noble truths that placed him in 
advance of his age. He believed that the world was 
created by one almighty God ; that it is maintained by 
this same great Being ; that it is our duty to serve him 
through virtuous living ; that the soul, with its vast 
capabilities and immortal nature, is the noblest part of 
man ; and that virtue, and not wealth, is the secret of 
happiness. " Then shalt thou, my Aristodemus," he 
says, " understand that there is a being whose eye 
pierceth throughout all nature, and whose ear is open to 
every sound ; extended to all places, extending through 
all time, and whose bounty and care can know no other 
bound than those iixed by his own creation." In refer- 
ence to the immortality of the soul, he says : " No man 
of sense will believe what the myths teach respecting 
another life ; but that a new sojourn, analogous to that 
which is promised us, awaits the soul truly immortal, 
is, it seems to me, what we may believe. It is necessary, 
then, that one should venture himself upon this thought, 
and delight himself with this hope. Let him take con- 
fidence in his soul, he who has renounced as foreign 



58 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

the pleasures of the body, he who has loved science, he 
who has adorned his soul with its true beauty — temper- 
ance, justice, strength, liberty, truth ; and let him hold 
himself ready for departure from the world, against the 
hour when destiny shall call for him." 

The principal significance of Socrates in a history of 
pedagogy is found in his method of teaching. He is 
the inventor, or, at least, the chief representative of the 
developing method. Without a fixed system of philoso- 
phy, he made truth the object of his inquiry. He plied 
his interlocutor with skillful questions, forcing him to 
careful definition and fundamental principles. "Were 
these in any way defective, the fact was pointed out 
with unpretentious but merciless and exasperating per- 
sistency. With little positive instruction, Socrates forced 
his hearers to the utmost mental activity and produc- 
tiveness. " I myseK," he says, " produce no wisdom, 
and it is correctly thrown up to me that I ask others 
questions without answering anything myself, as if I 
were incapable of proper replies. The reason is, that 
God compels me to help others bring forth, while with- 
holding that power from me. Hence, I am by no means 
a wise man, and have no wisdom as the product of my 
own spirit to show. But those who have been with me 
have made incredible progress, as appears to them and 
to others. And so much is certain, that they have 
never learned anything from me, but have only them- 
selves discovered very much that is beautiful, and have 
held it fast. In this production, God and I have 
helped." 

It only remains to speak of the sad circumstances of 
his death. His virtue and his obtrusiveness became 



GREECE. 59 

offensive to the Athenians ; at length an indictment was 
brought against him in these terms : " Socrates is guilty 
of crime — first, for not worshiping the gods whom the 
city worships, and for introducing new divinities of his 
own ; next, for corrupting the youth. The penalty due 
is death." The trial took place before a court of five 
hundred and fifty-seven judges. Socrates might easily 
have disproved the charges, but he conducted his de- 
fense in such a preposterous and exasperating manner 
that he was found guilty and condemned to death by 
poison. He refused to make his escape from prison. 
The last day of his life he spent in discoursing with his 
friends upon the immortality of the soul. When the 
hour of death came, he quietly drank the hemlock, and 
passed away with the calmness and dignity becoming 
the philosopher. 

Xenophon concludes his " Memorabilia " of Socrates 
with these words : " Of those who knew what sort of a 
man Socrates was, such as were lovers of virtue, con- 
tinue to regret him above all other men, even to the 
present day, as having contributed in the highest degree 
to their advancement in goodness. To me, being such 
as I have described him, so pious that he did nothing 
without the sanction of the gods ; so just, that he wronged 
no man even in the most trifling affair, but was of serv- 
ice, in the most important matters, to those who enjoyed 
his society ; so temperate, that he never preferred pleas- 
ure to virtue; so wise, that he never erred in distin- 
guishing better from worse, needing no counsel from 
others, but being sufficient in himself to discriminate 
between them ; so able to explain and settle such ques- 
tions by argument; and so capable of discerning the 



60 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

character of others, of confuting those who were in 
error, and of exhorting them to virtue and honor — to 
me, I saj, he seemed to be such as the best and happiest 
of men would be. But if any one disapproves of mj 
opinion, let him compare the conduct of others with 
that of Socrates, and determine accordingly." 

(e.) PLATO. 

The most distinguished pupil of Socrates was Plato. 
This philosopher, born in the year 429 b. c, traced his 
descent to Solon, and Codrus, an ancient king of Athens. 
In youth he received a careful education, and devoted 
himself for a time to poetry; but, after becoming ac- 
quainted with Socrates in his twentieth year, he gave 
himself up wholly to the study of philosophy. In pur- 
suit of knowledge, he traveled in Egypt, and then in 
Italy, where he visited the school of Pythagoras. At 
length, after many changes of fortune, he returned in 
his fortieth year to Athens, his native city, and devoted 
himseK to gratuitous teaching. With his philosophy, 
which was idealistic, we have nothing to do. 

"Plato," says Lewes, "was intensely melancholy. 
That great, broad brow, which gave him his surname, 
was wrinkled and somber. Those brawny shoulders 
were bent with thought, as only those of thinkers are 
bent. A smile was the utmost that ever played over his 
lips ; he never laughed. ' As sad as Plato,' became a 
phrase with the comic dramatists. He had many ad- 
mirers — scarcely any friends. In Plato, the thinker 
predominated over the man. That great, expansive in- 
tellect had so fixed itself upon the absorbing questions 



GREECE. 61 

of philosophy that it had scarcely any sympathy left for 
other matters." 

To Plato belongs the honor of first subjecting edu- 
cation to a scientific examination. This he does in his 
" Kepublic " — a Utopian work sketching an ideal state, 
yet containing withal many noble thoughts. Though 
possessing considerable interest, his views remained 
without any perceptible effect upon Grecian education, 
and may therefore be passed over briefly. 

According to Plato, the soul consists of three parts : 
" 1. The appetite, which is wild, but capable of being 
tamed ; 2. The spirit, the element of courage, which 
may be enlisted on the side of either good or evil ; 3. 
The philosophic element " — the source of wisdom, cult- 
ure, and love. " The duty of education is to control 
the appetite, and so to balance the other elements of the 
soul that each may tend to the perfection of the other." 

Plato made education the business of the state, re- 
minding us of the Persian and Spartan systems. All 
interests, whether of the family or of the individual, 
were subordinated to the state. A community of wives, 
children, and property was advocated. A caste system 
was proposed, the people being divided into rulers, war- 
riors, and common people. Of these, only the first two 
were to be educated. Moral education was made promi- 
nent. Tales and myths were to be made vehicles of 
moral instruction, and whatever in poetry or sculpture 
tended to immorality was to be rigidly excluded from 
the state. The cardinal virtues were courage, truthful- 
ness, self-control, honor to parents, and love for one's 
fellow-citizens. The course of study embraced arith- 
metic, geometry, astronomy, harmonics, and philosophy 



62 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

wliicli was looked upon as the queen of all sciences. 
Gymnastics was commended, not simply for bodily de- 
velopment, but also for its happy iufluence upon the 
soul. Dancing was added to the classical cycle of gym- 
nastic exercises, though such forms as might be preju- 
dicial to good morals were condemned. Music was 
highly commended. Dramatic and epic poetry were to 
be banished from the repubhc. " To lyric poetry," says 
Eitter, "he is more favorably disposed, but requires 
that it, abstaining from all seductive ornament or senti- 
ment, and recommending nothing indecent or unbecom- 
ing, should only sing, with due reverence, the praises of 
gods and heroes. This species of poetry he allows to be 
cultivated in the state under the dii'ection of authority, 
which is experienced in good." 

(r.) AEISTOTLE. 

"We conclude our inquiry with a study of the pro- 
foundest thinker that Greece produced. This is Aris- 
totle, whom an able German writer has called "the 
Alexander of the intellectual world." He was born at 
Stagira, in Macedonia, 384 b. c. In youth he went to 
Athens, where he was a member of Plato's school for 
twenty years. His eminent abilities soon became the 
subject of remark, and he was called by the philosopher 
" the intellect of his school." Unhke his great theoriz- 
ing teacher, Aristotle was a careful and practical inves- 
tigator, and he succeeded by his genius and industry in 
compassing the whole circle of knowledge as it then ex- 
isted. He created the science of logic, and made valu- 
able contributions to many other departments of learn- 
ing. 



GREECE. 63 

At the age of forty-seven, when his fame as a phi- 
losopher had become established, he was appointed 
teacher of Alexander the Great. He enjoyed the 
highest esteem of both Philip and Alexander, and re- 
ceived at their hands many marks of distinguished 
favor ; among these may be mentioned the restoration 
of his native town, Stagira, which had been destroyed 
by war, and the erection there of a gymnasium for his 
philosophical lectures. Though having the royal pupil 
under his charge less than four years, he did much in 
molding his mind and character, and the effects of his 
teaching were afterward discernible in the conqueror's 
life. 

"When about fifty, Aristotle returned to Athens and 
opened a school known as the Lyceum. He lectured to 
a circle of disciples as he walked about the shady ave- 
nues ; and this fact has given to his school of philoso- 
phy the name Peripatetic. In the morning he gave to 
select pupils a lecture upon some abstruse subject ; in 
the afternoon he delivered a popular lecture to a wider 
circle of hearers. " As to the unfavorable reports of 
the character of Aristotle," says Ritter, "we have al- 
ready weighed the greater part of them ; they by no 
means justify any imputation of low or dishonorable 
feelings. In his works, on the other hand, we see h^ 
the calm and sober inquirer, who does not, like Plato, "**i^>„, 
pursue a lofty ideal, but keeps carefully in view the "^ 
proximately practicable, and is not easily misled into 
any extravagance, either of language or of thought. 
His principal object is to examine truth under all her 
aspects, never to step beyond the probable, and to bring 
his philosophical system in unison with the general 



64: THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

opinions of men, as supported and confirmed by com- 
mon sense, observation, and experience." 

Notwithstanding bis greatness, Aristotle was hemmed 
in by the limitations of his age. The end of education 
with him is the useful and happy citizen. "While at- 
taching undue importance to the state, as Plato had 
done, he still recognized, in some degree, the rights of 
the family and the individual. The state was to main- 
tain a general supervision over education, while the de- 
tails were to be left to individual preference and judg- 
ment. According to the prevalent view of the time, 
women and slaves were to be shut out from the benefits 
of education. The order of education should be — 1. 
Physical ; 2. Moral ; 3. Scientific. The purpose of phys- 
ical training, however, was not, as in Sparta, the devel- 
opment of brute force, but the production of healthful 
vigor and manly courage. In moral education, correct 
habits were to precede theoretic teaming, the child be- 
ing brought up in the exercise of the virtues that were 
to form later the matter of precept. Dialectics, or the 
art of disputation, was the basis of scientific training, 
since it served as a mental gymnastic and led to the ac- 
quisition of the philosophic sciences. Drawing was in- 
sisted on as a useful means of developing the sense of 
the beautiful. Mathematics in its higher forms, as hav- 
ing no connection with the moral nature of man, was 
not regarded as of much importance. Rhetoric, philos- 
ophy, and politics received due attention. " Music, ac- 
companied with singing, so far as it is subservient to 
education, ought to be encouraged by reason of its great 
influence on manners, in which respect, however, its ap- 
phcation is very narrow. But it has other uses ; it tends 



ROME. 65 

to purify the passions of the soul, as is especially the 
case with tragedy, and is good for recreation and for a 
resource in leisure." The acquisition of knowledge was 
looked upon as naturally agreeable, and the method of 
proceeding from the known to the unknown, from the 
concrete to the abstract, was clearly pointed out. 

The theories of these three great thinkers, Socrates, 
Plato, and Aristotle, made no visible impress upon the 
educational practice of their time. This study of their 
views has been interesting and necessary only as show- 
ing the height to which the heathen intelligence could 
attain. The educational theories of these philosophers 
are of no great use to us, except as containing here and 
there a valuable hint and preparing the way for a full- 
orbed conception of education. The heathen world 
could not produce a system of education suited to the 
wants of Christian civilization. 

2. Rome. 

Ancient Rome has a history extending through 
more than a thousand years. During this long period 
it passed through various stages of development. From 
a condition of weakness and barbarism, it rose to be the 
imposing mistress of the world and the chief representa- 
tive of human progress. It gathered into its arms the 
elements of Grecian and Oriental culture, and, as its 
end drew nigh, it scattered them freely over the rest of 
Europe. Rome has been the bearer of culture to the 
modem world. To trace the course of education through 
the whole extent of Roman history would prove tedious, 
and bring us no compensating advantage. Our inquiry 



66 . THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

must be limited to a single typical period. This we find 
in the age of Augustus, when Roman character and Ro- 
man culture produced their richest fruits. It is the age 
of Cicero and Yirgil, 

Roman character, which lies at the basis of Roman 
history and culture, deserves a passing -word. It is in 
striking contrast with Grecian character. Both are in- 
teresting, but one-sided and defective. The Greek, with 
his restless, lively, emotional nature, was aesthetic, wor- 
shiping the beautiful; the Roman, with his rugged 
strength, was practical, reverencing the useful. These 
types of character are complementary of each other; 
and when united and ennobled by Christianity, they 
present the highest form of manhood. 

The Roman, no doubt, received from nature some- 
thing of this practical tendency, which was afterward 
fostered by outward circumstances. The small colony 
that first settled on the banks of the Tiber was hemmed 
in by hostile communities. Freedom of development 
was repressed. Unless they consented to give up their 
individuality, or perhaps their very existence, the Ro- 
mans were forced to conquer a place in Italy. This 
necessity called forth an aggressive, warlike spirit ; and 
at the same time it awakened an ardent patriotism and 
thrifty industry. These are the factors which produced 
Rome's prosperity. To the Roman, life was serious ; 
his manner was stately and grave. The finest feelings 
of humanity, the domestic and social affections, the re- 
fined pleasures of literature and art, were sacrificed for 
the sterner duties of framing laws, constructing aque- 
ducts and highways, declaring wars, and leading armies. 
The spirit of conquest characterized the Romans, and 



ROME. gY 

made them utilitarian in all their views and aims. 
Utilitarianism determined education. " The children of 
the Romans," says Cicero, " are brought up that they 
may some time be useful to the country, and hence they 
should be taught the nature of the state and the regula- 
tions of our forefathers. Our countiy has borne and 
educated us on the condition that we consecrate to its 
service the best powers of our spirit, talent, and under- 
standing; therefore we must learn the arts through 
which we can serve the state, for I hold that to be the 
greatest wisdom and the highest virtue." 

The family life of Rome marked a notable advance 
over that of Greece and the Oriental countries. The 
worth of woman began to receive proper recognition. 
Polygamy was not tolerated. In theory, the husband was 
unlimited master, and even held the right of life and 
death over his children ; but, in practice, the wife, by 
her virtues and tact, softened the sternness of his au- 
thority and arrived at undisputed control in the house- 
hold. The type of womanhood produced in the best 
days of Rome was admirable. Its leading traits were 
attractive dignity, strong motherly instincts, and lovely 
domestic virtues. Not diamonds or pearls, but her two 
rosy-cheeked boys, were Comeha's most precious jewels. 
The Roman matron managed her household tastefully 
and frugally, and found delight in caring for her chil- 
dren. For the first six or seven years she was their 
only teacher ; and with the utmost fidelity she formed 
their language, ideas, and moral sentiments. It was not 
till the age of degeneracy had set in that Roman mothers 
intnisted their children to nurses and pedagogues. 

Elementary instruction in school began with the 



68 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

seventh year, and embraced reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. The teacher of the primary school was 
called literator. The general custom was to teach the 
names and order of the letters before their forms — a 
method that Quintilian properly criticises. In connec- 
tion with spelling and reading, great care was bestowed 
upon pronunciation. By degrees the easier poets were 
read and explained, and choice passages were learned 
by heart. Writing was taught by inscribing a copy on 
a waxen tablet or board, and allowing the pupil to fol- 
low the outline of the letters with the stylus. After 
reading and writing came the art of reckoning, to which 
importance was attached because of its value in busi- 
ness. The fingers and an abacus of pebbles were exten- 
sively employed; and, through repeated mental exer- 
cises, the pupil was accustomed to compute with rapid- 
ity. In one of his odes, Horace presents us a pictm'e of 
boys passing along the streets of Rome with slate and 
satchel, not unlike what may be seen in the modem 
town. 

The school regulations were exacting, and the dis- 
cipline was sufficiently severe. Obedience and modesty 
were looked upon as important qualities. The pupils 
were required to be neat in dress and cleanly in person, 
and to observe a quiet decorum. On entering the 
school-room, they greeted the teacher with a respectful 
salutation. Corporal punishment was employed. The 
ferule was the ordinary instrument of punishment ; but, 
in case of grave faults, the rod or whip was also used. 

The primary training of the child ended with the 
twelfth year, when he was handed over to the literatus 
in order to receive more advanced instruction. The 



ROME. 69 

Greek language was taken up, and grammar was care- 
fully studied. For the culture of the understanding, 
the best writers, particularly the poets, were employed, 
among whom may be mentioned Homer, Yirgil, ^sop, 
and Cicero, Poems and orations were committed to 
memory. Especial importance was attached to history, 
and several Romans have won celebrity by the extent 
and accuracy of their historical knowledge. Poetry, 
oratory, philosophy, and criticism were other subjects 
studied under the literatus. 

The schools were private enterprises. The teachers 
of the primary schools did not stand in high esteem, as 
the literator was often a person who had failed in other 
callings. The literati, however, were frequently able 
to attain to wealth and distinction, especially if they 
were called to the instruction of the imperial princes. 
The public schools were not generally patronized by 
the higher classes of society. The moral tone of these 
schools was low ; and the vitiated air, with which the 
rooms were filled, was felt to be prejudicial to health. 
Hence it was common to employ private tutors ; or, as 
in the case of -^milius Paulus, the conqueror of Mace- 
donia, to keep Greek teachers permanently attached to 
the house. 

At fifteen or sixteen, the young Roman assumed 
the dress of manhood, known as the toga virilis. It 
devolved upon him to choose his calling, and to direct 
his subsequent studies in reference to it. Agriculture, 
arms, politics, law, and oratory were open to him. In 
his choice the young Roman, with his utilitarianism, 
was determined more by the prospect of accumulating 
wealth than by the dignity of the calling. Agriculture, 



70 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

which was held in great esteem, was selected by those 
who lacked ability to achieve success in other pursuits. 
The art of war was acquired in the field ; politics, law, 
and oratory were learned in the forum, courts, and sen- 
ate, under the guidance of some distinguished patron. 
Eloquence, as the sm'est road to popularity and success, 
was studied with assiduity. Theory and practice were 
combined. A wide course of reading was pursued in 
this connection ; for, according to a saying of Cicero's, 
the orator ought to know everything. 

Such is a history of education in Rome during the 
golden age. It is the period which followed the subju- 
gation of Greece, and the absorption of Grecian litera- 
ture and art. It stands in decided contrast with the 
rough simplicity of the earlier and purely Roman civili- 
zation, which was intensely utiHtarian, and hostile to the 
highest forms of culture. The elder Cato may be re- 
garded as the embodiment of this earher Roman spirit. 
He used his influence to repress the influx of Grecian 
learning. He wrote to his son : " Believe me, as if a 
prophet had said it, that the Greeks are a worthless and 
incorrigible race. If this people diffuse their literature 
among us, it will corrupt everything." His fears, not 
of the literature of the Greeks, but of their vices, were 
only too well founded ; and as has happened at later 
periods in the world's history, brilliant culture went 
hand in hand with deep moral degradation. The educa- 
tional practice of this earlier period is well exemplified 
by Cato. As Plutarch tells us, this sturdy Roman 
taught his son to read, " although he had a servant, a 
very good grammarian, called Chilo, who taught many 
others ; but he thought not fit, as he himself said, to 



ROME. 71 

have his son reprimanded by a slave, or pulled, it may 
be, by tlie ears when found tardy in his lesson ; nor 
would he have him owe to a servant the obligation of 
so great a thing as his learning ; he himself, therefore, 
taught him his grammar, law, and his gymnastic exer- 
cises. I^or did he only show him, too, how to throw a 
dart, to fight in armor, and to ride, but to box also, and 
to endure both heat and cold, and to swim over the 
most rapid and roughest rivers. He says, likewise, that 
he wrote histories, in large characters, with his own 
hand, that so his son, without stirring out of the house, 
might learn to know about his countrymen and fore- 
fathers ; nor did he less abstain from speaking anything 
obscene before his son, than if it had been in the pres- 
ence of the sacred virgins, called vestals." 

In completing this sketch of Roman education, 
which has been called practical, it only remains to pre- 
sent the views of two or three distinguished Romans 
who have treated of the subject in their writings. 

(a.) ciceko. 

Cicero, the distinguished orator and philosopher, is 
perhaps the best representative of his age, combining 
in himself the highest Roman and Grecian culture. 
Bom in the year 106 b. c, of a noble family, he was 
educated at Rome under the best teachers of the time. 
At sixteen he assumed the manly gown, and studied 
law, oratory, and philosophy. He afterward traveled in 
Greece and Asia for the purpose of study. At Rhodes 
he studied oratory with Apollonius, a celebrated rheto- 
rician, at whose request he once delivered a declamation 
in Greek. When he had finished, the auditors were 



72 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

profuse in their praises; but Apollonius, after main- 
taining a soiTowf ul silence for a time, said : " You have 
my praise and admiration, Cicero, and Greece my pity 
and commiseration, since those arts and tliat eloquence, 
which are the only glories that remain to her, will now 
be transferred by you to Rome." After his return to 
Italy, he filled several important offices, among them 
the consulship, in which his services were so eminent 
that he received at the hands of his grateful country- 
men the proud title of "father of his country." At 
last, after many changes of fortune, he was murdered by 
emissaries of Antony, against whom he had delivered a 
series of philippics. 

The character of Cicero has been admirably por- 
trayed by Ritter : " With the nicest knowledge of men 
and things, without which no orator can be great, he 
combined a fine sense of justice and benevolence, love 
for his friends, who remained true to him through the 
various changes of his fortunes ; unwearying diligence, 
and a shrewd and comprehensive forecast of future 
events, and the inevitable consequences of the present 
position of affairs. To be as great as he was brilliant in 
political fife, he only wanted that perfect enthusiasm 
which is engendered in the mind by confidence in its 
own resources, and resolute firmness in the moment of 
action." 

During his later years, Cicero employed his leisure 
in writing a number of philosophical works, in several 
of which he has set forth more or less completely his 
views of education. He demanded of teachers that they 
should be just, and neither too mild nor too severe. 
Punishment should be resorted to only after other means 



ROME. T3 

of discipline have failed; it should have nothing de- 
grading in its form, and should never be administered 
in anger, as it is then impossible to observe moderation, 
^he pupil should be made to feel that correction springs 
from the desire to do him good. Cicero held noble 
views of man. "The man who knows himseK," he 
says, " will find within himself traces of the divine ; and, 
while he considers himself an image of the Deity, he 
will be careful to avoid those feelings and actions which 
would injure this great gift. . . . The soul is derived 
immediately from the Deity. It retains ties of relation- 
ship mth celestial beings ; and hence it comes to pass 
that, amid all animated nature, man is the only creature 
which possesses the knowledge of a Supreme Being. 
The possession of this knowledge is, then, sufiicient to 
entitle man to point to his upward origin. Nature has 
placed in us certain necessary and elementary notions, 
which form the basis of all true wisdom and science." 
Education should begin with the earliest childhood; 
and during this sensitive period the amusements and 
surroundings should be favorable to refinement and in- 
telligence. The memory should be cultivated ; and, to 
this end, extracts from Grecian and Roman writers 
should be learned by heart. Religion is wisely placed 
at the basis of moral culture. The young man should 
choose a calling for which his tastes and abilities fit 
him. The study of Greek was held important ; but the 
natural sciences, in which Cicero himself was deficient, 
were but Hghtly esteemed. The study of politics and 
philosophy was looked upon as the highest intellectual 
pursuit. 



74 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

(b.) SENECA. 

Seneca, who has been placed by a distinguished au- 
thor among the heathen " seekers after God," hved dur- 
ing a period of great moral degeneracy — a fact that 
renders the purity of his philosophical teacliings all the 
more remarkable. He was born at Cordova, in Spain, 
two years before the beginning of the Christian era. 
When quite young he was taken by his father to Rome 
to be educated. " The things taught," says Canon 
Farrar, "■ were chiefly arithmetic, grammar — both Greek 
and Latin, — reading, and the repetition of the chief 
Latin poets. There was also a good deal of recitation 
and of theme-writing on all kinds of trite historical sub- 
jects. The arithmetic seems to have been mainly of a 
very simple and severely practical kind, especially the 
computation of interest and compound interest ; and 
the philology generally, both grammar and criticism, 
was singularly narrow, uninteresting, and useless. Of 
what conceivable advantage can it have been to any 
human being to laiow the name of the mother of Hecu- 
ba, of the nurse of Anchises, of the step-mother of An- 
chemolus, the number of years Acestes lived, and how 
many casks of wine the Sicilians gave to the Phrygians ? 
Yet these were the despicable Tninutice which every 
schoolmaster was then expected to have at his fingers' 
ends, and every boy-scholar to learn at the point of the 
ferule — trash wliich was only fit to be unlearned the 
moment it was known. Tor this kind of verbal criti- 
cism and fantastic archasology Seneca, who had proba- 
bly gone through it all, expresses a profound and very 
rational contempt." 

After traveling some time in Greece and Egypt, 



ROME. Y5 

Seneca retnmed to Rome and pleaded in the courts of 
law, meeting with eminent success. He was subse- 
quently banished to Corsica for eight years, which pe- 
riod he spent in philosophical studies. " There is no 
land," he wi'ote at this time, " where man can not dwell 
— no land where he can not uplift his eyes to heaven ; 
wherever we are, the distance of the divine from the 
human remains the same. So, then, so long as my eyes 
are not robbed of that spectacle with which they can 
not be satiated, so long as I may look upon the sun and 
moon, and fix my lingering gaze on the other constel- 
lations, and consider their rising and setting and the 
spaces between them and the causes of their less and 
greater speed — while I may contemplate the multitude 
of stars glittering throughout the heaven, some station- 
ary, some revolving, some suddenly blazing forth, others 
dazzling the gaze with a flood of flre as though they fell, 
and others leaving over a long space their trails of light ; 
while I am in the midst of such phenomena, and mingle 
myself, as far as a man may, with things celestial — 
while my soul is ever occupied in contemplations so 
sublime as these, what matters it what ground I tread ? " 

Upon his recall to Rome, he was appointed tutor to 
Nero ; but, in spite of the excellence of his instruction, 
he was unable to control the depraved passions of his 
pupil. He was finally condemned to death in the year 
65 A. D. — a standing testimony to the injustice and cor- 
ruption of his age. 

Some of Seneca's teachings are in striking accord 
with Scripture truth. " God is near us," he says ; " he 
is in us. A divine spirit dwells within us who watches 
over us and observes om* evil and our good. . . . With- 



76 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

out God, no man can be good." He believed that man 
is naturally inclined to evil. It is tbe office of educa- 
tion to correct the evil tendencies of our nature. The 
teacher should exert a purifying and elevating influ- 
ence upon his pupils, leading them by precept and 
example to virtue. In punishment there should be 
no anger, which destroys the benefit of chastisement. 
"Who condemns quickly," Seneca says, "condemns 
willingly; and who punishes too much, punishes im- 
properly." In deahng with pupils, differences of char- 
acter should be taken into consideration. The destiny 
of man is thought and action; and both capacities 
should be cultivated. A multiplicity of studies, ending 
in superficiahty, should be avoided, and thorough work 
in a narrow compass insisted on. The study of nature 
was regarded as important ; for it is here that the works 
of the Deity are investigated and wisdom acquired for 
the proper ordering of life. Gymnastics was held as 
serviceable when pursued with moderation ; but, when 
employed to form the athlete, it was thought to exhaust 
the mind and render it unfit for study. The faithful 
and competent teacher stood high in Seneca's estimation. 
" What the teacher," he says, " who instructs us in the 
sciences imparts to us in noble effort and intellectual 
culture is worth more than he receives ; for, not the 
matter, but the trouble ; not the desert, but only the 
labor, is paid for." 

(c.) QUESTTILIAlf. 

Quintilian, the celebrated writer on rhetoric, was 
born at Calahorra, in Spain, about the year 42 a. d. ; and, 
like most other great men of his time, he was educated 



ROME. 77 

at the metropolis. He devoted himself for a time to 
the practice of law, in which he achieved considerable 
success ; but he finally abandoned this calling to become 
a teacher of oratory, in which he won a high and endur- 
ing reputation. He was invested by Yespasian with 
consular dignity, and granted an allowance from the 
public treasury. He was the first Roman teacher that 
was salaried by the state and honored with the title 
"professor of eloquence." He taught in Rome for 
twenty years, and numbered among his pupils many 
distinguished names. In his later years he wrote his 
" Institutes of Oratory," in which he has presented a 
complete scheme of education — the most valuable trea- 
tise on the subject that has come down to us from an- 
tiquity. He entertained a favorable opinion of the na- 
tive capacities of children, and admonished parents to 
cherish the best hopes of their offspring. Nurses should 
speak correctly and have good morals, as they have 
charge of children at the most impressible period. The 
pedagogues subsequently chosen for the children should 
either be men of acknowledged ability, which Quintilian 
greatly preferred, or they should at least be conscious of 
their want of learning, and thus remain themselves 
docile. Children should begin with the Greek language, 
as they would naturally acquire Latin ; yet the study of 
the vernacular should not be long deferred, lest a pure 
pronunciation be lost. Education should not be post- 
poned, as was customary at that time, till the seventh 
year, but should begin with the earliest childhood. 
Amusements should be utihzed as means of instmction. 
Care should be exercised not to give the child a distaste 
for learning. Something can be learned during this 



78 THE ANCIENT CLASSICAL NATIONS. 

early age ; " and whatever is gained in infancy," Quin- 
tilian says, " is an acquisition to youth." The forms 
and names of the letters should be learned simulta- 
neously ; and whatever devices in the way of playthings 
might facilitate this knowledge should be employed. 
Writing should be learned by following copies cut in 
wood or inscribed in wax. In learning to read, the 
child should advance slowly, mastering the elements 
fully. Public schools should be preferred to private 
instruction ; for, without exposing pupils to any greater 
danger, they supply the stimulating influence of asso- 
ciation, friendsliij), and example. The disposition and 
ability of each pupil should be studied. Precocity is 
often deceptive, lacking solidity and endurance. Integ- 
rity and self-control should be taught early. " That 
boys should suffer corporal punishment," Quintilian 
says, " I by no means approve ; first, because it is a dis- 
grace, and a punishment for slaves ; . . • secondly, be- 
cause if a boy's disposition be so abject as not to be 
amended by reproof, he wiU be hardened, like the worst 
of slaves, even by stripes ; and, lastly, because, if one 
who regularly exacts his tasks be with him, there will 
not be the least need of any such chastisement." Under 
the liter atus, the pupil should pursue grammar, com- 
position, music, geometry, astronomy, and literature. 
Greek and Latin authors should be read with judicious 
criticism and all necessary historical explanations. Last- 
ly, the student should pass to the rhetorician to com- 
plete his course. Special regard should be had to the 
moral character of the teacher and to his qualifications. 
The teacher of eminent abilities is the best to teach little 
things as well as great things, and he is likely to have a 



ROME. Y9 

better class of pupils. Severity in criticism sliould be 
avoided. "I used to say," Quintilian tells us, "with 
regard to some compositions, that I was satisHed with 
them for the present, but that a time would come when 
I should not allow them to produce compositions of such 
a character." The natural tastes and capacities of pu- 
pils should be regarded, though not to too great an ex- 
tent. We should strengthen what is weak and supply 
what is deficient. 



III. 

CHEISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE 
REFORMATION. 

1. The Relation of Christianity to Education. 

The education of paganism was imperfect. It was 
controlled by wrong principles, and confined within too 
narrow limits. It did not grasp the worth of the indi- 
vidual in all its fulhiess. It never freed itself from the 
narrowness of national character. Grecian education 
aimed at forming the beautiful Greek ; Roman educa- 
tion, at forming the practical Roman. But, with the 
advent of Christ into the world, there came a new era 
in history. New truths were thrown into the world 
which were destined to change its character. " In low- 
liness and humility," says Dr. Phihp Schaff, "in the 
form of a servant as to the flesh, yet effulgent with di- 
vine glory, the Saviour came forth fi'om a despised cor- 
ner of the earth ; destroyed the power of evil in our 
nature ; realized in his sj)otless hfe, and in his suffer- 
ings, the highest idea of virtue and piety; lifted the 
world with his pierced hands out of its distress ; recon- 
ciled mankind to God, and gave a new direction to the 
whole current of history." With liis coming, the world 
started upon the period of its final development. When 



RELATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO EDUCATION. 81 

tlie truths announced by him have exhausted their force 
upon mankind, then comes the end. 

The wide-reaching influences of Christianity have 
profoundly affected education. Christianity has placed 
education upon a new and immovable foundation. In 
teaching that God is the common Father of all men, it 
removes from education the fetters of national limits 
and prejudices. It gives the world the great thought 
of the brotherhood of mankind — a thought whose be- 
nign effects have not yet been fully realized. In making 
every one a child of God, stamped with the impress of 
the divine image, Christianity attaches due importance 
to the individual. It makes him the object of redemp- 
tion, the steward of God, the heir of eternal life. He 
is made to possess an endless worth in himself. Chris- 
tianity teaches that all men are alike before God, who 
" is no respecter of persons." With this mighty truth, 
it sweeps away the false distinctions of class and caste 
which have weighed so heavily upon Oriental countries. 
It abolishes slavery. In enforcing the law of brotherly 
love, Christianity seeks to overthrow the injustice and 
oppressions of society. Inculcating the duty of personal 
holiness, it seeks to aboUsh the vices which were sanc- 
tioned by the philosophy, religion, and society of the 
ancient world, and which polluted and undermined Gre- 
cian and Roman civiHzation. It elevates marriage into a 
divine rite. It makes the wife the friend and com- 
panion of her husband, their union symbolizing that of 
Christ with his Church. Children are looked ujjon as 
the gift of God. Christ took them up in his arms and 
blessed them. So far from having the right to expose 
his children to death, according to the universal custom 



82 CHRISTIiJJ EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

among pagan nations, tlie parent is required to " bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
These are some of the great traths of Christianity which 
have changed the character both of civilization and of 
education. 

2. The Founder of Christianity. 

The life of Christ, apart from its religious signifi- 
cance in the world's redemption, is well worth a careful 
study. It is now nearly nineteen centuries since his 
birth. During this vast period, the world has moved 
forward in its gigantic process of development. The 
sum of human knowledge has been immeasurably in- 
creased, new arts and sciences have arisen, yet the life 
of Christ stands forth in imapproachable beauty. The 
greatest minds of modern times, with the docility of the 
Galilean fishermen, have paid him the tribute of rever- 
ent admiration. The brilliant and skeptical Rousseau 
acknowledged that " the life and death of Jesus Christ 
are those of a God." The great German, Herder, said, 
" Jesus Christ is in the noblest and most perfect sense 
the realized ideal of humanity." Ko one will deny the 
intellectual greatness of Napoleon, yet he has said of 
Christ : " His birth and the story of his life, the pro- 
foundness of his doctrine, which overturns all diffi- 
culties, and is their most complete solution ; his gospel, 
the singularity of his mysterious being, his appearance, 
his empire, his progress through all centuries and king- 
doms — all this is to me a prodigy, an unfathomable 
mystery. I defy you to cite another life like that of 
Christ." 

Human life is an unbroken unity, and our early 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 83 

years, like tlie infant oak, contain the elements of our 
future being. As childhood is a peculiarly susceptible 
and imitative period, the influences and training belong- 
ing to it are largely determinative of our destiny. Leav- 
ing out of account Christ's divine nature, before which 
we bow as a mystery, we may trace, as in the case of 
other men, those influences which contributed to his in- 
tellectual and spiritual development. 

]!^azareth, his native town, is surrounded by an am- 
phitheatre of hills. Flowers grow upon the slopes and 
in the hollows ; birds fill the air with songs ; refreshing 
breezes blow from the sea, and a bright canopy of blue 
is stretched over the landscape. In the midst of these 
favorable surroundings, Christ grew up in sympathy 
with Nature ; and, in after-years, he was able to draw 
wonderful lessons from " the birds of the air and the 
flowers of the field." As the Jewish system of educa- 
tion had changed but little, the domestic circle at ]^aza- 
reth was probably his only school. From Joseph he 
received formal instruction in the Jewish law, while the 
gentleness and piety of Mary were not without influ- 
ence in molding his character. He profited, no doubt, 
by the weekly synagogue service, and, on his annual 
visits to the holy city, dwelt fondly upon its wondrous 
associations. 

The results of this training, with its deep religious 
significance, are apparent throughout Christ's subsequent 
career. At twelve years of age, he confounded the 
doctors in the temple ; afterward he repulsed the re- 
peated assaults of Satan in the wilderness ; he vindicated 
his Messiahship by the testimony of the prophets ; he 
baffled the cunning of the Pharisees by his profound 



8i CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

acquaintance with Scripture. When lie taught the peo- 
ple, he called forth the testimony that "never man 
spake as this man." He announced new and profound 
spiritual truths. In a word, he raised himself above all 
others whom milhons yet to-day regard as their grandest 
teachers. Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed — to say noth- 
ing of Greek and Roman sages — are not worthy to be 
compared with Christ. 

In his manner of instructing his disciples and the 
multitudes that gathered around him, Christ has given 
us valuable lessons in method. His heart goes out to- 
ward his heai'ers in the tenderest sympathy ; he " was 
moved with compassion toward them, because they were 
as sheep not having a shepherd." His teaching is 
adapted to the capacity of his hearers, and is usually 
connected with some outward circumstance that renders 
it more impressive. He observes the order of JNature, 
and seeks only a gradual development — " first the blade, 
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." With 
his disciples, he insists chiefly upon the practical and 
fundamental truths of religion, building, as it were, a 
substantial framework in the beginning, which the Holy 
Spirit was to conduct afterward to a harmonious and 
beautiful completion. " One linds in his programme," 
says a French writer, " neither literary studies nor course 
of theology. And yet, strange as it may seem, when the 
moment of action arrives, the disciples — those unlettered 
fishermen — have become orators that move the multi- 
tudes and confound the doctors ; profound thinkers that 
have sounded the Scriptures and the human heart; 
writers that give to the world immortal books in a lan- 
guage not their mother-tongue." 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 85 

The teachings of Christ which affect education have 
already been considered. It is true, as Paroz has said, 
that ".Jesus Christ, in founding a new religion, has laid 
the foundations of a new education in the bosom of 
humanity. He has exhibited in his own person the 
perfect moral development toward which we are to 
tend — a development which the wisdom of the ancients 
scarcely caught glimpses of — and he has opened to us, 
by his death and resurrection, by his word and the Holy 
Spirit, the way toward this ideal. He is indeed Hhe 
way, the truth, and the life,' and we can say of those 
who would banish him from education and the school 
what St. Paul said of the Jews hostile to Christ, that 
* they are the enemies of the human race.' " 

The testimony of Karl Schmidt is no less striking 
and emphatic : " By word and deed," he says, " in and 
with his whole life Christ is the teacher and educator 
of mankind. Henceforth there is no hio-her wisdom 
than that exhibited by Christ, that God is a spirit, and 
that they that worship him must worship him in spirit 
and in truth ; no greater truth than this, that God 
dwells essentially in man, that God is the true, divine 
being of man ; no diviner duty than this : ' Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
great commandment. And the second is like unto it. 
Thou, shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' That is abso- 
lute truth, doctrine for all time, in the appropriation 
and realization of which lies the task of mankind, while 
in the person of Christ himself the absolute example 
is given as to whither this truth leads, what it accom- 
plishes, and how it appears in taking form." 



86 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 



3. Brief Survey of the Period. 

The first period of Christian education extends to 
the Reformation of the sixteenth century. During this 
long period Christianity did not completely control so- 
ciety and education. Always encountering deteimined 
opposition, and having weak and fallible men as its 
representatives, it has never achieved faultless results. 
At first its violent contrast with existing customs and 
morals, and afterward its union with the state, gave it 
one-sided tendencies and crippled its efficiency. At a 
later period, its contact with the uncultured masses of 
Northern Europe, and its perversion by a self-seeking, 
political, and often corrupt priesthood, tainted it with 
superstition and tyi'anny. 

JSTotwithstanding unfortunate tendencies in the 
Church during the first period of Cluistian educa- 
tion, indispensable work was accomplished. The great- 
est political power of the earth was brought under the 
influence of Christianity. The young and vigorous 
nations of the north of Europe, which at a later time 
were to be the representatives and bearers of Christian 
culture, were converted to Christianity. The relics of 
ancient literature, which were to perform an important 
office in quickening and forming modem Christian cult- 
ure, were preserved in the monasteries, and multiplied 
by tireless copyists. The beginnings of popular educa- 
tion were made. A thirst for knowledge was dissemi- 
nated among the higher classes, and universities were 
founded as centers of intellectual culture. In part, 
the course of study, both for primary and secondary 



BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD. 8t 

education, was fixed ; and the mistakes and one-sided- 
ness of educational effort have remained for our in- 
struction. 

It is proper to say a word here in reference to the 
Teutonic race, which received the precious boon of civ- 
ilization and Christianity from falling Eome, in order 
to purify, preserve, and disseminate it throughout the 
world. The Teutonic tribes, the noblest branch of the 
great Aryan family, possessed at the beginning of our 
era certain characteristics that brought them into sym- 
pathy with Christianity, and prepared them for its 
hearty adoption. As compared with the Romans in 
point of culture, those brave German tribes ranked as 
barbarous ; but, in force of character, purity of morals, 
and nobihty of feeling, they were far above the Romans. 
They recognized, in a high degree, the worth of the in- 
dividual, and were warm defenders of personal freedom. 
They possessed a deep religious nature, and great rever- 
ence and love for the truth. "Women were held in high 
esteem. Their respect for marriage and their purity of 
morals were portrayed by Tacitus, in order to shame the 
licentiousness of Rome. In addition to aU this, the 
Teutonic races possessed great physical and intellectual 
vigor, which fitted them to take up the world's develop- 
ment at the point where antiquity, with strength ex- 
hausted, had left it. They became the leaders in art, 
science, commerce, government, religion, and culture, 
in all which they made new and extended conquests. 
It is the Teutonic nations that are chiefly to claim our 
attention hereafter. They are the great leaders in edu- 
cation, as they are in every other weighty human in- 
terest. 



gg CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 



J^. Education in the Eably Church. 

After these general remarks, we proceed to trace the 
history of education during the period under considera- 
tion more in detail. Education in the early Church is 
first to be considered. We shall discover among the 
primitive Christians an unmistakable incompleteness in 
educational training ; but, at the same time, we shall 
find the highest purity of life and the most self-sacrific- 
ing devotion that have been manifested, perhaps, in the 
history of our race. After contemplating the vicious 
society of heathen countries, and turning even from our 
own more cultured civihzation, it is delightful to con- 
sider the beautiful characteristics of the primitive Chris- 
tian life. With the early Christians, the adoption of 
Christianity meant the complete exemplification of its 
precepts in the life. Says Justin Martyr, who was born 
about the end of the first century, himself one of the 
most distinguished Christians : " We who once delighted 
in lewdness now embrace chastity; we who once em- 
braced magical arts have consecrated ourselves to the 
good and unbegotten God ; we who loved above all 
things the gain of money and possessions now bring all 
that we have into one common stock, and give a portion 
to every one that needs ; we who once hated and killed 
one another now pray for our enemies, and endeavor 
to conciliate those who unjustly hate us. ISTow, whoso- 
ever are found not to live as Christ taught, let it be 
publicly known that they are not Christians, though 
they should profess with their tongues the doctrines of 
Christ." 



EDUCATION IN THE EARLY CHURCH. 89 

The marriage relation was almost ideal in its beauty. 
According to apostolic injunction, marriage between 
believers only was allowed. Again we let one of the 
Church fathers speak, Tertullian, who Kved in the 
second century, says : " How intimate the union be- 
tween believers! Their hopes, their aspirations, their 
desires, all the same. They are one in faith and in the 
service of their Lord, as they are also in flesh and in 
heart. In mutual concord they read the Scriptures, 
and fast and pray together, aiding and sustaining each 
other by mutual instraction and encouragement. They 
go in company to the house of the Lord ; they sit to- 
gether at his table. In persecution and in want, they 
bear their mutual burdens, and participate in each other's 
joys. They live together in mutual confidence, and in 
the enjoyment of each other's society. In the freedom 
of mutual confidence they administer to the sick, relieve 
the needy, distribute their alms, and each freely engages 
in his religious services without concealment from the 
other. Unitedly they offer their prayers to God, and 
sing his praise, knowing no rivalry but in these acts of 
devotion. In such scenes of domestic bliss, Christ re- 
joices and adds his peace. To two so united he grants 
his presence ; and where he is no evil can abide." 

Education among the early Christians has been beau- 
tifully portrayed by Coleman. " The tender solicitude 
of these early Christians for the religious instruction of 
their children," he says, " is one of their most beautiful 
characteristics. They taught them even at the earliest 
dawn of intelligence the sacred names of God and the 
Saviour. They sought to lead the infant minds of their 
children up to God, by familiar narratives from Script- 



90 CHKISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFOEMATION. 

tire, of Joseph, of young Samuel, of Josiah, and of tlie 
holy cliild Jesus. The history of the patriarchs and 
prophets, apostles and holy men, whose lives are nar- 
rated in the sacred volume, were the nursery-tales with 
which they sought to form the tender minds of their 
children. As the mind of the child expanded, the par- 
ents made it their sacred duty and dehghtful task daily 
to exercise him in the recital of select passages of Script- 
ure relating to the doctrines and duties of religion. The 
Bible was the entertainment of the fireside. It was the 
first, the last, the only school-book almost, of the child ; 
and sacred psalmody, the only song with which his infant 
cry was hushed as he was lulled to rest on his mother's 
arm. The sacred song and the rude melody of its 
music were, from the earhest ' periods of Christian an- 
tiquity, an important means of impressing the infant 
heart with sentiments of piety, and of imbuing the sus- 
ceptible minds of the young with the knowledge and 
the faith of the Scriptures. Even in the earhest period 
of Christianity, there were those who, like our divine 
Watts in modern times, ' condescended to lay aside the 
scholar, the philosopher, and the wit, to wi'ite little 
poems of devotion adapted to the wants and capacities 
of children.' " 

The purpose of these early Christian parents, as of 
the ancient Jews, was to train up their children in the 
fear of God. In order that the children might be ex- 
posed as little as possible to the corrupting influence 
of heathen associations, their education was conducted 
within the healthful precincts of home. As a result, 
they grew up without a taste for debasing pleasures; 
they acquired simple domestic tastes ; and, when the 



EDUCATION IN THE EARLY CHURCH. 91 

time came, they took their place as consistent and ear- 
nest workers in the Church. 

Such was the character of education among the 
primitive Cliristians. It is defective, indeed, subordi- 
nating and even sacrificing the intellectual to the moral 
and religious elements of our nature ; but the type of 
chai'acter it produced was truly admirable. The beauty 
of this character made its impression upon an age notori- 
ous for its vice. It extorted unwilling praises from the 
enemies of Christianity. A celebrated heathen orator 
exclaimed, " What wives these Christians have ! " "A 
noble testimony," says a writer of note, " to the refining 
power of woman, and the most beautifid tribute to the 
gentle, persuasive influence of her piety which all an- 
tiquity, heathen or Christian, furnishes." 

(a.) catechetical schools. 

The catechetical schools, which sprang up naturally 
in this primitive period, were designed to prepare can- 
didates for Christian baptism. In the apostolic period, 
new converts to Christianity were received into the 
church by baptism after a very brief course of instruc- 
tion and upon a very simple profession of faith. The 
Ethiopian eunuch, for example, received at most only a 
few hours' instruction as he rode along in his chariot, 
and was baptized upon the confession, " I believe that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God." But as Christianity 
spread, and converts from among the Jews and heathen 
became more numerous, it was found advisable, for the 
sake of greater unity, purity, and intelligence in the 
Church, to give candidates for baptism more extended 



92 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

instruction. This instruction, wliicli extended from a 
few months to three years, was given by a special Church 
officer under the name of catechist, and embraced the 
fundamental truths and doctrines of Christianity. The 
candidates, called catechumens, or learners, studied the 
ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and other por- 
tions of Scripture, as well as a short confession of faith 
containing the chief articles of Christian belief. The 
instruction was at first imparted privately at some con- 
venient place, but afterward in the Church or school- 
buildings. 

The most celebrated of the catechetical schools was 
that of Alexandria, founded in the second century. It 
was in this city that Christianity came into closest con- 
tact with heathen culture. Many of the candidates ap- 
plying for admission into the Church were representa- 
tives of heathen learning. In preparing them for 
baptism, it was necessary that the instruction assume a 
more complete and scientific form. In addition to this, 
the Alexandrian school devoted itseK to the education 
of Christian teachers. It became, in fact, a theological 
seminary of high order, in which, along with specifically 
Christian instruction, philology, rhetoric, mathematics, 
and philosophy were studied. The attitude of this 
school toward heathen learning is thus expressed by 
Clement, one of its earliest and most distinguished 
teachers : " The Mosaic law and heathen philosophy do 
not stand in direct opposition to each other, but are re- 
lated like fragments of a single truth, like the pieces, 
as it were, of a shattered whole. . . . Both prepared 
the way, but in a different manner, for Christianity." 
The school had no public buildings ; and the teachers. 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 93 

several of whom were very distinguished, taught in 
their private houses. They received no fixed salary, but 
were supported by gifts from their pupils. 

"At Alexandria," says Neander, "where it often 
happened that men of education, even the learned, and 
those habituated to philosophical reflection, applied to 
receive instruction in Christianity, it was necessary that 
the catechists should be men of hberal education, quali- 
fied to meet the doubts and objections of pagans, and to 
follow them on their own position. Able and learned 
laymen were therefore selected here ; and this class of 
catechists led afterward to the formation of an impor- 
tant theological school among the Christians." Alex- 
andria was the birthplace of scientific Christian theol- 
ogy- 

5. Education during the Middle Ages. 

y — ; 
\ It is necessary to notice a peculiar tendency in the 

Church which exerted for nearly a thousand years an 
important influence upon education. This was the as- 
cetic tendency, which disdains the present world in the 
interests of the world to come. This tendency has been 
forcibly characterized by George Eliot as " other-world- 
liness." It fails to grasp the great truth that human 
life is an organic unity ; that eternal life is but a con- 
tinuation of temporal life ; and that on earth, as well as 
in heaven, we are in the presence and service of God. 
(Asceticism, which manifested itself in various forms of 
self-abnegation or physical torture, was based upon the 
idea that the body is the seat of sin. Hence it was con- 
cluded that by imposing restraints and suffering upon 



94 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

the body, by wbicli its natural force was weakened, the 
seul was enabled to attain to a higher degree of sanctity. 
'The two principal classes of ascetics were the hermits, 
who withdrew from society to live in solitude ; and the 
monks, who lived together in monasteries under the 
vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. ^The latter 
was far the more numerous class, and its existence has 
been perpetuated to the present. 

Traces of the ascetic spirit are to be found in the 
primitive Church ; but it was not till late in the fourth 
century that it reached a complete development. It 
tlien remained dominant throughout the middle ages. 
Perhaps it was a phase of human development necessary 
in the zigzag march of progress, and indispensable to 
the ultimate attainment of truth. At all events, it was 
a natural one. The heathen world had long been at- 
taching too much relative importance to the earthly 
life. By a natural reaction, the Church, when it came 
to assert itself in opposition to prevailing beliefs and 
customs, unduly contemned the present world in mag- 
nifying the world to come. This one-sided, other- 
worldly spirit exerted a wide-reaching influence, laying 
its hand upon every important human interest. The 
natural world was made to possess no value. ! Rehgious 
doctrines, forms, and interests became the alMbsorbing 
subject of human thought and activity. The priesthood 
were elevated into a false importance, which was used 
by them to increase their power. Science was sunk in 
theology. / History gave place to marvelous legends of 
saints ; anii the principle of authority controlled all sci- 
entific thought.) Education was stamped with a theo- 
logical bias that fettered it for agesi In fact, this ascetic 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 95 

spirit may be regarded as the controlling principle in 
Chriafefan education prior to tlie Eeformation. 

*^In the first stage of its development," profoundly 
observes Karl Schmidt, in speaking of the Church, " it 
was religion especially that dominated all intellectual 
interests. The religious impulse in Christianity was so 
powerful and weighty that the human spirit found in it 
and its exemplification complete satisfaction. There 
was a great withdrawal of man within himseK, into that 
part of his nature that unites him to God, and that be- 
longs, not to the perishable, but to the imperishable ; 
not to the visible, but to the invisible world. The su- 
pernatural laid hold of men's minds with mighty ener- 
gy. Man, as the son of heaven, became a stranger upon 
this earth, and esteemed the splendor of this world as 
of little value. The world in all its beauty had been 
tested by antiquity, and had not afforded the lasting 
peace promised of it. Heaven now took its place, and 
the citizen of heaven displaced in a measm'e the citizen 
of earth. [ This one-sided apprehension of man as a 
heavenly H)eing, this complete sway of the transcendent- 
al, forms the leading characteristic of the world before 
the Reformation, in which period Christianity appeared 
as an abnegation of the worlds, Only the world of re- 
ligion is truth. The natural world is destitute of worth, 
and escaj)e from it is the end of life: Hence the world- 
disowning asceticism, fasting, celibacy." "^ 

This ascetic, transcendental movement very soon 
found advocates among the most influential of the 
Church fathers. / As early as the beginning of the third 
century, Tertullikn, presbyter of Carthage, attempted to 
exclude the Church from all intercourse with the world. 



96 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

He rejected tlie study of heathen philosophy and litera- 
ture as destructive of Christian simplicity, and promo- 
tive of pride, overwiseness, and immorality. " If sci- 
ence and literature delight you," he says, " we have an 
abundance of verses, sentences, and songs ; no fables, but 
truth, no artistic melodies, but simphcity. ... If you 
seek science, we have it, but not from Athens. What 
has Athens to do with Jerusalem, the Academy with the 
Church ? Our doctrine comes from the porch of Solo- 
mon, according to whose teaching the Lord is to be 
sought in simplicity of heart. We need not investigate 
further after we have found Christ ; we need not seek 
further after we have received the gospel." 

Says Chrysostom, a distinguished Church father of 
the fourth century : " Parents ought to give their chil- 
dren a name having a Christian signification, in order 
that it may subsequently be a source of good influence. 
. . . Mothers ought to care for the bodies of their chil- 
dren, but it is necessary also that they inspire their off- 
spring with love for the good and with fear toward 
God. And fathers will not limit themselves to giving 
their children an earthly vocation, but will interest 
themselves also in their heavenly calling. The most 
beautiful heritage that can be given children is to teach 
them to govern their passions. Never ought they to 
hear hcentious conversation at home. Let us take care 
to develop modesty in them, for nothing torments youth 
so much as what is contrary thereto. Let us have for 
our children the same fear that we have for our houses, 
when servants go with a Hght into places where there is 
inflammable material, as hay or straw. They should not 
be permitted to go where the fire of impurity may be 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 97 

kindled in tlieir hearts and do them an irreparable in- 
jury. A knowledge of the Scriptures is an antidote 
against the unreasonable inclinations of youth and 
against the reading of pagan authors, in which heroes, 
the slaves of every passion, are lauded. The lessons of 
the Bible are springs that water the soul. As our 
children are everywhere surrounded with bad examples, 
the monastic schools are the best for their education. 
Bad habits once contracted, they can not be got rid of. 
This is the reason God conducted Israel into the wilder- 
ness, as into a monastery, that the vices of the Egyptians 
might be unlearned. And yet the Israelites were con- 
tinually falling into their old habits! Now our chil- 
dren are surroimded by vice in our cities and are unable 
there to resist bad examples. In the monasteries, they 
do not see bad examples ; they lead there a holy life in 
peace and tranquillity. Let us take care of the souls of 
our children, that they may be formed for virtue, and 
not be degraded by vice." 

The same one-sided religious tendency comes out 
strongly in the long and interesting letter of St. Jerome 
to Laeta, a friend of his, upon the education of her 
daughter. He lived in the latter half of the fourth 
century. A single extract will suffice to indicate the 
spirit of the whole letter. " Let the companion she 
chooses," he says, " be not well-dressed or beautiful, or 
with a voice of liquid harmony ; but grave, and pale, 
and meanly clad, and of solemn countenance. Set over 
her an aged virgin, of approved faith, and modesty, and 
conduct, to teach and habituate her, by her own exam- 
ple, to rise up by night for prayer and psalms, to sing 
her morning hymns, and to take her place in the ranks, 

6 



98 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

like a Christian warrior, at the third, and sixth, and 
ninth hours ; and, again, to light her lamp and offer up 
her evening sacrifice. Let the day pass, and the night 
find her at this employment. Prayer and reading, 
reading and prayer, must be the order of her hfe ; nor 
will time travel slowly when it is filled by such engage- 
ments." 

The ascetic tendency found an ardent representa- 
tive in St. Augustine, who has been called the Paul of 
the fifth century. With great vehemence he rejects all 
heathen science in Christian education. " Those end- 
less and godless fables," he says, " with which the pro- 
ductions of conceited poets swarm by no means accord 
with our freedom ; neither do the bombastic and pol- 
ished falsehoods of the orator, nor finally the wordy 
subtilties of the philosopher. God forbid that trifles 
and fooHshness, windy buffoonery, and inflated false- 
hood should ever be properly called science ! " Again 
he says : " A young man exclaims, in reading a scene of 
Terence, ' What ! is it not permitted us to do what the 
gods dare to do?' This reasoning is carried on by 
many young people. We learned beautiful words in 
our authors, but we learned more easily to commit bad 
actions. Intoxicated pagan masters made us drink in 
the cup of error, and beat us when we refused. Was 
there then no other means to teach us our language and 
to cultivate our mind ? " 

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that all 
the fathers of the Church shared this narrow spirit. 
There were not wanting those who held broader and 
juster views, and who advocated an education that com- 
prehended the valuable elements of heathen culture. 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 99 

For example, Basil the Great, of the fourth century, 
says : " In the combat which we have to deliver for the 
Church, we ought to be armed with every resource, and 
to this end the reading of poets, historians, and orators 
is very useful. . . . We may compare the lessons of 
holy Scripture to the fruits of a tree, and the produc- 
tions of pagan wisdom to the foliage which shelters the 
fruit and gives grace to the tree. . . . Moses cultivated 
his intelligence by studying the science of the Egyp- 
tians, and Daniel adorned his mind with that of the 
Chaldeans. . . . But there is a choice to be made among 
pagan authors. It is necessary to close the ear to bad 
reading, as Ulysses did to the seductive songs of the 
sirens. The habit of reading bad actions leads to doing 
bad acts. It is necessary to reject the shameful stories 
of the gods, as we are to shun the voluptuous music of 
the pagans." 

(a.) monastic schools. 

Under the impulse of asceticism, monasteries were 
rapidly multiplied. By the seventh century they were 
scattered throughout aU the countries that had once 
composed the Roman Empire. The Benedictine order, 
founded in the sixth century, was the largest and most 
influential brotherhood. As long as the monasteries re- 
tained their purity they were in many respects sources 
of blessing to the world. They became asylums for the 
oppressed ; fortresses against violence ; missionary sta- 
tions for the conversion of heathen communities ; re- 
positories of learning ; homes for the arts and sciences. 
They presei'ved and transmitted to later ages much of 
the learning of antiquity. 



100 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

As the lieatlien scliools had now disappeared, the 
monasteries engaged in educational work. / The Church 
regarded education as one of its exclusive functions, and 
under its direction nearly all instruction had a theologi- 
cal or ecclesiastical aim. > Purely secular studies were 
pursued only in the interests of the Chm'ch. The 
course of instruction in the convent or monastic schools 
embraced the so-called seven liberal arts, which were 
divided into two classes : the irivium included Latin 
grammar, dialectic or logic, and rhetoric ; and the qtiad- 
rivium, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. 
Reading and writing were included in grammar, and 
arithmetic and music were sometimes substituted for 
the other studies of the trivium, which was the first 
and most popular course. Seven years were devoted to 
the completion of the course in liberal arts. Latin, the 
language of the Church, was made the basis of educa- 
tion, to the universal neglect of the mother-tongue. 
The works of the Church fathers were chiefly read, 
though expurgated copies of the Latin classics were 
used. Dialectic or logic was based somewhat remotely 
on the writings of Aristotle. At a later period, logic 
was rigidly applied to the development of theology, and 
gave rise to a class of scholars called the school-men. 
These busied themselves with theological and philo- 
sophical subtilties, many of which now appear ridicu- 
lous. The works of Quintilian and Cicero, or later 
works based upon them, were used in rhetoric. Arith- 
metic was imperfectly taught, importance being attached 
to the supposed secret properties of numbers. Geome- 
try was taught in an abridged form, while astronomy 
did not differ materially from astrology. The study of 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. IQl 

music consisted cliieflj in learning to chant tlie hymns 
of the Church. 

The relation in which these liberal studies stood to 
theology is thus indicated by Rhabanus Maunis, an edu- 
cational writer of the early part of the ninth century : 
" Grammar teaches us to understand the old poets and 
historians, and also to speak and write correctly. With- 
out it, one can not understand the figures and unusual 
modes of expression in the holy Scriptures, and conse- 
quently can not grasp the right sense of the divine 
Word. Even prosody should not be neglected, because 
so many kinds of versification occur in the Psalms; 
hence, industrious reading of the old heathen poets and 
repeated exercise in the art of poetic composition are 
not to be neglected. But the old poets should be pre- 
viously and carefully expurgated, that nothing may re- 
main in them that refers to love and love-affairs and the 
heathen gods. Khetoric, which teaches the different 
kinds and principal parts of discourse, together with the 
rules belonging to them, is important only for such 
youths as have not more serious studies to pursue, and 
should be learned only from the holy fathers. Dialec- 
tic, on the contrary, is the queen of arts and sciences. 
In it reason dwells, and is manifested and developed. 
It is dialectic alone that can give Imowledge and wis- 
dom ; it alone shows what and whence we are, and 
teaches us our destiny ; through it we learn to know 
good and evil. And how necessary is it to a clergyman, 
in order that he may be able to meet and vanquish 
heretics ! Arithmetic is important on account of the 
secrets contained in its numbers; the Scriptures also 
encoui'age its study, since tliey speak of numbers and 



102 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION, 

measures. Geometry is necessary, because in Scripture 
circles of all kinds occur in the building of the ark and 
Solomon's temple. Music and astronomy are required 
in connection with divine service, which can not be 
celebrated with dignity and decency without music, nor 
on fixed and definite days without astronomy." 

(b.) CATHEDKAL AKD PAKOCniAL SCHOOLS. 

Besides the convent or monastic schools, there were 
two other classes of schools that owed their origin to 
the Church during the middle ages. They were the 
cathedral and the parochial schools. The cathedral 
schools, though previously existing to some extent, re- 
ceived their perfected organization through Bishop 
Chrodegang in the eighth century. The priests con- 
nected with each cathedral church were organized into 
a monastic brotherhood, one of whose foremost duties 
was to establish and conduct schools. These were de- 
signed chiefly for the instruction of candidates for the 
priesthood, but were, at the same time, accessible to 
others. The instruction in these schools was very much 
the same as in the convent-schools, embracing the seven 
liberal arts, but laying a httle more stress on religious 
subjects. 

The parochial schools were established in the sepa- 
rate parishes under the supervision of the priest. They 
were designed to acquaint the youth with the elements 
of Christian doctrine, to prepare them for intelligent 
participation in public worship, and especially to intro- 
duce them into church-membership. Their function 
was similar to that of the catechetical schools of the 
primitive Church. Eeading and writing did not usually 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 103 

form any part of the course of study. The discipline in 
these, as in all the other schools of the middle ages, 
was rough and severe, the rod being unsparingly 
used. 

Neander thus speaks of the interest of the Church in 
the instruction of the people : " The third Council of 
Yalence in 855 decreed in its sixteenth canon that every 
bishop should either in person, or by the agency of well- 
instructed ministers of the Church, so administer the 
word of preaching, both in the city and in the country 
churches, that there should be no want of wholesome 
exhortation for the people ; for when God's Word is not 
furnished to the faithful, the soul is deprived of the ele- 
ment of its hfe. Herard, Bishop of Tours, in his pas- 
toral instructions written in the year 858, directed that 
the priests should expound before all the faithful the 
doctrines of the incarnation of the Son of God ; of his 
passion, his resurrection, and ascension ; of the effusion 
of the Holy Spirit, and the forgiveness of sins to be ob- 
tained through the same Spirit, and the baptism into 
the bosom of the Church ; that they should warn people 
against sins, particularly sins of the grosser sort, and in- 
struct them in the nature of the virtues. . . . The ne- 
cessity of establishing schools for the promotion of 
religious instruction and of the prerequisite culture 
was also acknowledged. In the year 859 the Council 
of Langres and the Council of Savonnieres decreed 
that, wherever God raised up able men for teachers, all 
suitable efforts should be made to found public schools, 
so that the fruits of both kinds of knowledge, spiritual 
and secular, might grow in the Church ; for it is a lam- 
entable fact, and a most disastrous evil, that the true 



104 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

Tmderstanding of Scripture has already become so far 
lost that the lingering remains of it are now scarcely to 
be found. . . . But the defects we have already noticed 
in the constitution of the Church were the true reason 
why a sufficient number of the clergy were never to be 
found capable, or inchned to study and apply these in- 
structions. ;^he majority of the clergy who came in 
immediate Contact with the people possessed no other 
qualification for their office than a certain skill and ex- 
pertness in performing the ceremonies of the Church. 
The hturgical element would thus of necessity tend 
continually to acquire an undue predominance, suiting 
as it did the prevalent idea of the priesthood ; while the 
didactic element — an element so important for promot- 
ino^ the reho^ious knowledore which was so neglected 
among the people — would, on the other hand, retreat 
more and more into the background." 

(c.) CHAELEMAGXE. 

The labors of Charlemagne for the moral and intel- 
lectual elevation of his people were intelligent and fruit- 
ful. He sought to multiply educational facilities on a 
large scale ; and he even went so far as to contemplate 
the organization of a popular school system. He en- 
deavored to enlist the interest of the clergy and monks 
in education, as they were at this time the chief repre- 
sentatives of learning. He opposed their worldhness 
and immorahty, and exacted a faithful discharge of their 
duties. The monasteries and bishops were urged to im- 
prove the schools already existing, and to establish new 
ones wherever needed. The sphere of the parochial 
schools was enlarged ; and the village priests were re- 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 105 

quired to teacli not only religion, but also reading, arith- 
metic, and singing. 

Charlemagne thus speaks in a circular letter ad- 
dressed to the bishops and convents : " "We esteem it 
useful not only that care should be exercised to live or- 
derly and religiously in the bishoprics and monasteries 
intrusted to our care by the grace of God, but also that 
all those who by God's help are able to teach should 
give instruction in the sciences. For although it is bet- 
ter to do than to know, yet it is necessary to know in 
order to be able to do. . . . Hence, we admonish you 
not only not to neglect the study of the sciences, but 
also to strive after the ability to fathom easily and cer. 
tainly the secrets of holy Scripture. Bat, since there 
are in the same allegories, figures, and the like, it is evi- 
dent that he will best understand them in their true 
spiritual sense who is well instnicted in the sciences. 
Hence, let men be chosen for such work who possess 
willinoTiess and abilitv to learn, and art to teach," 

Charlemagne exhibited a great thii'st for knowledge, 
and was himseK a model of diligence in study. He in- 
vited to his court from all parts of Europe the most dis- 
tinguished scholars, of whom Alcuin, of England, the 
most learned man of his time, is best known. With 
these he maintained interesting and intimate relations, 
presiding at their assemblies and sharing in their dis- 
cussions. He established a model school at court, and 
sometimes visited it in person to note the progress of 
the pupils. It is related of him that he once placed the 
dihgent pupils on his right, and the idle ones on his 
left ; and, when he found that the latter were chiefly 
sons of noble parents, he addressed them thus : " Be- 



106 CHKISTIAN EDUCATION EEFORE THE KEFORMATION. 

cause you are ricli and the sons of noblemen, you think 
that your riches and birth are enough, and that you 
have no need of those studies which would do you so 
much honor. You think only of dress, play, and pleas- 
ure ; but I tell you that I attach no importance to this 
nobility and wealth which bring you consideration ; and, 
if you do not speedily make up by assiduous study for 
the time you have lost in frivohty, never will you obtain 
anything from Charles." 

The educational activity stimulated by Charlemagne 
largely died away during the agitated reigns of his weak 
and grasping successors. 

(d.) seculae educatioj^. 

In the latter half of the middle ages, secular edu- 
cation came into prominence. It assumed two direc- 
tions : the one was the offspring of chivalry, and may 
be teraied knightly education ; the other arose from the 
business necessities of the cities, and may be termed 
burgher or town education. These secular tendencies 
were in part a reaction against the one-sided religious 
character of the ecclesiastical schools, and in part the 
natural product of peculiar social conditions. What 
these conditions were will now be examined. 

Society during the middle ages may be divided into 
three classes: ecclesiastics, embracing the clergy and 
monks ; warriors, including the nobles and knights ; and 
producers, comprehending mechanics, tradesmen, and 
peasants. During a great part of the middle ages, the 
ecclesiastics exerted a tyrannical domination over the 
other two classes, holding in their hands, as they did, 
the keys of knowledge and salvation. The pope assumed 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 107 

absolute temporal as well as absolute spiritual dominion. 
Opposition to the Cburcli was punished witb excom- 
munication ; sometimes with the interdict, which for- 
bade the exercise of every rehgious function within 
a given territory ; and, in extreme cases, with the 
crusade, which exposed whole provinces to utter de- 
struction. 

With the crusades, during which great multitudes 
rushed with fanatical zeal to the Holy Land to rescue 
the sepulchre of our Lord from Mohammedan hands, 
there began a noteworthy change in the social relations 
of Europe. The crusades, though at an almost incredi- 
ble cost of life, contributed largely to the progress of 
civilization. They enlarged the contracted sphere of 
human knowledge. Foreign lands, and new customs, 
sciences, and arts were introduced into the circle of 
popular thought. The knightly class was brought into 
a new importance, was largely increased in numbers, 
and admirably ennobled in its aims. The crusades led 
to the emancipation of many serfs, and elevated them to 
the rank of free peasants. They quickened commerce, 
trade, and manufacture ; increased and strengthened the 
burgher class ; and extended the power and influence of 
the cities. The knightly and burgher classes attained 
to a feeling of self-consciousness and independence. 
They emancipated themselves, to some extent at least, 
from ecclesiastical tutelage ; and this naturally led to a 
change in education. 

(e.) KNIGHTLT EDUOATIOl^. 

Knightly education stood in the sharpest contrast 
with that of the Church. It attached importance to 



108 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

what the Church schools neglected and condemned. 
Physical culture received great attention ; polished man- 
ners were carefully cultivated ; and a love of glory was 
constantly instilled. Women were held in worshipful 
regard as the embodiment of honor and virtue. The 
native tongue was cultivated. Nature was not made to 
stand in unnatural opposition to spiritual interests, but, 
on the contrary, inspired the noblest sentiments and 
purest joys. 

Knightly education was usually divided into three 
equal periods. For the first seven years, the young 
candidate for knighthood remained in the paternal castle 
under the care of his mother. After that age, he was 
usually sent to live with some friendly knight, where, in 
constant attendance upon the chatelaine or her lord, he 
learned music, chess, and knightly manners. At four- 
teen he was made squire or attendant, and his physical 
and military education became more exacting. Every- 
where, in the pleasures of the chase, the excitement of 
tournaments, and the dangers of battle, he was the faith- 
ful companion of his master. Having proved himself 
worthy during a long probationary period, the young 
squire, at the age of twenty-one, was formally elevated, 
with solemn and imposing ceremonies, to the knightly 
order. After a season of fasting and prayer, and the 
celebration of the Lord's Supper, he took the vow to 
speak the truth, defend the right, honor womankind, 
and use his sword against the infidels of the East ; and 
then he received, at the hand of a knight or noble lady, 
his spurs, gauntlets, and suit of armor. 

Such was the education of the knight. Almost the 
sole intellectual element entering into it was music and 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 109 

poetry. At one time, tliis was very prominent; and 
one of the richest literary treasures coming down to us 
from the middle ages is the large collection of knightly 
songs comprehended under the term Minne, or love- 
poetry. These songs were employed, during the long 
nights of winter or the prevalence of stormy weather 
and deep snows, to relieve the monotony of life within 
the castle walls. The newspaper, works of fiction, the- 
atrical or hterary entertainments, and highly developed 
music — the great resources of modern Hfe against ennui 
— were then wanting. Apart from tales of adventure 
and a few rude games, minstrelsy was the only resource 
left the company of the castle. Accordingly, they were 
accustomed to gather at night in the principal hall 
around the great log-fire ; and as the men sat by their 
ale-cups or worked at replenishing their quivers, and 
the ladies apart stitched their embroidery, some knight, 
perhaps one just welcomed to friendly shelter, took up 
the lute, and, with rude accompaniment, poured forth 
song after song, or related by the hour his rhythmical 
tales. 

As a specimen of the Minne-songs — the most beau- 
tiful flower of knightly education — the following lines 
will sufiice : 

The woodlands with my songs resound, 

As still I seek to gain 
The favor of that lady fair 

Who causeth all my pain. 

My fate is hke the nightingale's. 

That singeth all night long, 
"While still the woodlands mournfully 

But echo back her song. 



110 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

Wliat care tlie wild woods, as thej wave, 

For all the songster's pains ? 
Who gives her the reward of thanks 

For all her tuneful strains ? 

In dull and mute ingratitude 
Her sweetest songs they hear ; 

Their tenants roam the desert wild, 
And want no music there. 



(f.) bukgher schools. 

The growth of the cities and the increasing power 
of the trading and artisan classes have already been 
noticed. With the growing importance of these two 
classes, there came the conscious need of an education 
that would have immediate reference to the practical 
wants of life. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were 
indispensable. Out of this need arose a class of schools 
which have borne different names, as town, burgher, 
or writing schools. In addition to the elementary 
studies just mentioned, geography, history, and natural 
science were pursued, in a small way, in connection 
with the mother-tongue. Latin also was early intro- 
duced. Notwithstanding the fact that the burgher 
schools were secular institutions, both in origin and aim, 
the clergy as the only authorized teachers claimed the 
right to control them. This claim, which was often 
resisted by the civil magistrates, frequently occasioned 
strife, in which sometimes the one party and sometimes 
the other was successful. Where the civil authorities 
maintained ascendency, they appointed teachers whose 
duties were prescribed by a contract. The principal 
teachers, who were engaged for one year at a time, em- 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. HI 

ployed and paid tlieir assistants. The salaries were so 
small that they barely sufficed to procure the necessaries 
of life. The teachers generally led a wandering life, 
moving from city to city in search of employment. The 
itinerant teacher, known as bacchant or vagrant, was 
sometimes accompanied by a crowd of jDupils called A 
B C shooters, whose habits of purloining fowls and 
other articles of food did not contribute to their popu- 
larity, nor to the elevation of the profession of teaching. 
As there were no school-houses at this period, instruc- 
tion was given in churches, municipal buildings, or 
other houses rented for the purpose. The first school- 
house was built in Berne, in 1481. 

(g.) female education. 

During the middle ages, female education, outside 
of the knightly order, was generally neglected. Here 
and there, in connection with nunneries, a few women 
attained distinction by their learning, but these cases 
were exceptional. Among the knightly class, where 
women were held in high honor, great attention was 
paid to female culture. I^ot only were the young women 
instructed in the feminine arts of sewing, knitting, em- 
broidery, and housekeeping, but they also received an 
intellectual training which, in addition to reading and 
writing, often included an extended acquaintance with 
French and Latin. 

The peasant class, during all this period, were almost 
entirely neglected. The only provision made for their 
instruction was in the parochial schools, which were de- 
voted almost exclusively, as we have seen, to religious 
instruction. The peasants were indeed wanting in the 



112 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

educational impulse. They failed to see how education 
would help them in their drudging toil, and hence were 
not responsive to any efiort for their intellectual im- 
provement. 

(h.) brethren of the common life. 

In the fourteenth century a brotherhood, founded by 
Gerhard G-root, and known as Hieronymians, or Brethren 
of the Common Life, devoted themselves to the work of 
education, with special reference to the poorer classes. 
"Without assuming monastic vows, the members of this 
brotherhood led a life of purity, and labored with un- 
selfish devotion for the good of others. Establishing a 
community of goods, they supported themselves by the 
work of their own hands. By its pure and self-sacrificing 
life, the brotherhood rapidly grew in popular favor, was 
extensively patronized, received papal recognition and 
protection, and soon spread over the northern part of 
Germany. It maintained its existence till the sixteenth 
century. 

Special emphasis was laid upon rehgious education, 
as will be seen from the following words of the founder : 
" Spend no time either on geometry, arithmetic, rhetoric, 
logic, grammar, poetry, or astrology. All these branches 
Seneca rejects ; how much more, then, should a spirit- 
ually-minded Christian pass them by, since they sub- 
serve in no respect the hfe of faith ! Of the sciences of 
the pagans, their ethics may not be so scrupulously 
avoided, since this was the special field of the wisest of 
them, as Socrates and Plato. That which does not im- 
prove a man, or, at least, does not reclaim him from 
evil, is positively hurtful. Neither ought we to read 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 113 

pagan books, nor indeed the Holy Scriptures, in order 
merely to penetrate into the mysteries of l^ature by that 
means." Practically, however, the order departed con- 
siderably from this rehgious narrowness, and devoted 
itself not simply to the elementary instruction of the 
people, but also to the higher education. The two most 
celebrated members of this order were Thomas a Kem- 
pis, and Nicholas Cusanus, who interested himself with 
success in educational work, as well as in reformatory 
measures for abuses in the Church. 

" In the schools of the brotherhood," says Johannes 
Janssen, a painstaking Catholic writer, " Cliristian edu- 
cation was placed high above the mere acquisition of 
knowledge, and the practical religious culture of the 
youth, the nurture and confirmation of active piety, was 
considered the chief object. All the instruction was 
penetrated with a Christian spirit, and the pupil learned 
to regard religion as the most important human in- 
terest, and the foundation of all true culture. At 
the same time, a considerable amount of knowledge 
and a good method of study were imparted, and the 
pupil acquired an earnest love for literary and scientific 
activity. From all quarters studious youth poured into 
these schools." 

(l.) THE SCIENTIFIC SPIEIT. 

But a single point remains to be considered to com- 
plete our review of education in the middle ages. This 
is the growth of the scientific spirit. To the awakening 
of this spirit, two principal causes contributed. The 
first of these was the increase of human knowledge 
growing out of the crusades, the growth of the cities, 



114 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

and the social elevation of the laity ; the other was the 
influence of the Arabian or Mohammedan schools. 

(j.) MOHAMMEDAN LEAENESTG. 

After the establishment of Mohammedanism in the 
seventh century, it was carried by the force of arms over 
large portions of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Empires 
were established, in which learning kept pace with po- 
litical power. The caliphs of Cordova and Bagdad be- 
came rivals in their patronage of learning, no less than 
in political power and ostentatious luxury. The writ- 
ings of the Greeks, especially tliose of Aristotle and 
Euclid, were translated into Arabic. Flourishing schools 
were established in all the principal cities, notably at 
Bagdad and Damascus in the East, and at Cordova, 
Salamanca, and Toledo in the West. Here grammar, 
mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, chemistry, and 
medicine were pursued with great ardor and success. 
The Arabians originated chemistry, discovering alcohol, 
and nitric and sulphuric acids. They gave algebra and 
trigonometry their modern forms; applied the pendu- 
lum to the reckoning of time ; ascertained the size of 
the earth by measuring a degree, and made catalogues 
of the stars. For a time, they were the intellectual 
leaders of Europe. Their schools in Spain were largely 
attended by Clu-istian youth from other European coun- 
tries, who carried back with them to their homes the 
Arabian science, and through it stimulated intellectual 
activity in Christian nations. In the eleventh century, 
having imparted its intellectual treasures to the Christian 
world, Arabian learning began to decline, and has since 
fallen into utter insignificance. 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. US 

(k.) kise of the msrivEEsniES. 

The ricliest fruit of this newly awakened scientific 
spirit in Europe was the founding of the universities. 
They arose independently of both Church and state. In 
the beginning they consisted of free associations of 
learned men and aspiring youths, who were held together 
alone by their mutual interest in science. In this way 
the University of Bologna had its origin in the twelfth 
century for the study of law, and the University of Sa- 
lerno shortly afterward for the study of medicine. To- 
ward the close of the twelfth century the University of 
Bologna numbered no less than twelve thousand students, 
most of whom came from distant countries. During this 
century the cathedral school of Paris was enlarged into 
a university, in which the study of theology was pre- 
dominant. This became the most distinguished seat of 
learning in Europe, At one time it was attended by 
more than twenty thousand students, who for the purpose 
of better government were divided into bodies according 
to nationality. They had special halls called colleges, in 
which they lodged and boarded under ofiicial super- 
vision. The professors were divided into the four fac- 
ulties — ^philosophy, theology, medicine, and law — which 
have since been retained in universities, thougli the 
studies in each department have been greatly enlarged. 

The moral tone of the universities was low ; there 
were brawls, outbreaks, and abominable immoralities. 
" The students," say the Vienna statutes, " shall not 
spend more time in drinking, fighting, and guitar-play- 
ing, than at physics, logic, and the regular courses of 
lectures ; and they shall not get up public dances in the 



116 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE TUE REFORMATION. 

streets. Quarrelers, -wanton persons, drunkards, those 
that go about serenading at night, or who spend their 
leisure in following after lewd women ; thieves, those 
that insult citizens, players at dice — having been prop- 
erly warned and not reforming, besides the ordinary 
punishment provided by law for those misdemeanors, 
shall be deprived of their academical privileges and ex- 
pelled." These prohibitions give ns a clear insight into 
the university life of the time, for it was not worse at 
Yienna than at Paris and elsewhere. 

The influence and power of the universities were 
speedily recognized ; and, though originally free associ- 
ations, they were soon brought into relation with the 
Church and the state, by which they were oflicially au- 
thorized and endowed with privileges. " Although the 
universities were free associations," says Karl Schmidt, 
"yet as intellectual forces they were soon drawn into 
the various spheres of life, and Church as well as state, 
princes as well as cities, rivaled each other in mnning 
their influence by bestowing favors upon them. First, 
the Church sought to attach them to itself, in order to 
join to the power of faith the power of knowledge : the 
first privileges that the universities received proceeded 
from the popes. . . . On the other hand, the emperors 
desired and sought the development of a free secular 
culture, in order to procure for their might and power 
an intellectual foundation ; and they hastened, therefore, 
to circumvent the ecclesiastical influence, and to give 
the new universities an independent position. Thus, in 
itsrovember, 1158, Frederick I. gave the University of 
Bologna a privilege, whereby the students from abroad 
were granted his protection, and a court of their own 



EDUCATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 117 

was allowed them. 'For if already all those that do 
good,' he says, ' merit in every way our praise and pro- 
tection, we hold it proper with especial grace to defend 
those against all injury, M^hose science enlightens the 
world, and teaches subjects to obey God, and us as his 
servants.' " 

After the establishment, in the twelfth century, of 
the three universities ah'eady spoken of, similar institu- 
tions, modeled particularly after the University of Paris, 
sprang up in the various countries of Europe. The 
German universities of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries were founded in the following order : Prague, 
1348; Vienna, 1388 ; Erfurt, 1392 ; Leipsic, 1409 ; Kos- 
tock, 1419; Greifswald, 1456 ; Freiburg, 1457; Ingol- 
stadt, 1472 ; Tiibingen, 1477 ; and Mayence, 1477. 
Thus, it will be seen that they were estabHshed in quick 
succession — an unmistakable proof of the growing sci- 
entific interest of the age. 

(l.) stjmmaey. 

Here our review of education before the Reforma- 
tion must end. Education did not have a complete and 
beautiful development. It was unworthily enslaved to 
other interests, and both in theory and practice it showed 
its servile condition. Yet the long, dark period of the 
middle ages was not without blessings for mankind. It 
was the winter that gathers strength for the blossoming 
of spring and the fruit-bearing of summer. The founda- 
tions of future progress were laid. The Germanic na- 
tions were placed in possession of Christianity and civ- 
ilization. One-sided tendencies worked themselves out, 
and have since remained for the instruction of our race. 



118 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

The work of this period was largely negative. If the 
middle ages have not taught us wiiat to do in education, 
they have at least showed us a good deal to avoid. And, 
as the history of our race proves, this negative work has 
always to be done before humanity makes any signal 
progress. Heathenism had to exhaust its intellectual 
strength before the world was ready to accept Chris- 
tianity. 



lY. 

EDUCATION FROM THE EEFORMATION TO 
THE PRESENT TIME. 

The Eeformation of the sixteenth centnrj is the 
greatest event in modern history. Its vast influence 
upon human development is surpassed only by the ad- 
vent of Christ. It marks the close of a long, dark night, 
and dates a new era in human progress. 

It was not, however, an isolated fact. There were 
many concurring circumstances which prepared the way 
for it, and gave it power in the world. The revival of 
classical learning, which had its central point in the 
downfall of Constantinople in 1453, exerted a favorable 
influence. It opened the hterary treasures of Greece 
and Rome, provided a new culture for the mind, awak- 
ened dissatisfaction with the scholastic teaching of the 
Church, and tended to emancipate thought from sub- 
jection to ecclesiastical authority. The invention of 
gunpowder brought about an iraportant and wholesome 
change in the organization of society. It destroyed the 
influence and power of the knightly order, elevated the 
producing class, and thus became a mighty leveler. Be- 
fore this invention a single knight, clad in a full suit 
of aiTQor, and mounted upon a powerful charger, was 



120 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

a matcli for a whole company of foot-soldiers. The 
strength of armies was measured by the number of 
knights. But after the invention of gunpowder, in the 
fourteenth century, which made the humblest footman 
with a musket more than a match for the proudest 
knight, chivalry necessarily declined. The discovery of 
America, and of a sea-passage to the East Indies, exerted 
an elevating influence by enlarging the circle of knowl- 
edge. Correct views of the earth supplanted the Ptole- 
maic system. The commercial activities of the world 
began to move in new directions, and to assume enlarged 
proportions. But the most important of all was the in- 
vention of printing, about the middle of the fifteenth 
century. At once supplanting the tedious and costly 
method of copying books by hand, it multiphed the 
sources of knowledge, and brought them within reach 
of a larger circle of readers. Each of these circum- 
stances was a lever to lift the world up to a higher plane. 
The Reformation broke the fetters yet holding it, and 
started it forward in a new course of intellectual, moral, 
and religious development. 

1, The Revival of Learning and the Humanists. 

The revival of learning was so intimately related to 
the Reformation, and to the educational advancement 
dating from that time, that it calls for consideration in 
some detail. It had its origin in Italy. The three great 
Italian writers of the fourteenth century — Dante, Boc- 
caccio, and Petrarch, all of whom had made a more or 
less profound study of the ancient classics — may be re- 
garded as its pioneers. The widely extended scientific 



\ 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND THE HUMANISTS. 121 

spirit, whicli has already been noticed at some length, 
prepared the way for its rapid spread. The first Greek 
to introduce the hterary treasures of his country into 
Italy was Manuel Chrysoloras, who received from the 
city of Florence, in 1396, an appointment as teacher. 
This was the humble beginning to be followed by great 
results. When Constantinople was captured by the 
Turks, in 1453, many Greek scholars took refuge in 
Italy. The times were propitious for them. IToble and 
wealthy patronage was not lacking, and under its foster- 
ing care they became for a time the teachers of Europe. 
They succeeded in kindling a remarkable enthusiasm for 
antiquity. Manuscripts were collected, translations were 
made, academies were established, and libraries were 
founded. Several of the popes became generous patrons 
of ancient learning ; Nicholas Y. founded the celebrated 
Vatican Library, and collected for it a great number of 
Greek and Latin manuscripts ; and under Leo X. Rome 
became a center of ancient learning. Eager scholars 
from England, France, and Germany, sat at the feet of 
Italian masters, in order afterward to bear beyond the 
Alps the precious seed of the new culture. 

The revival of letters produced different results in 
different countries. Everywhere it contributed to the 
emancipation of the human mind, but in Italy it tended 
strongly to paganize its adherents. Ardor for antiquity 
became at last intoxication. Infidelity prevailed in the 
highest ranks of the Church ; Christianity was despised 
as a superstition ; immorality abounded in the most 
shameful forms. The heathenism of Athens was re- 
vived in Christian Rome. The remark that Leo X. is 
said to have made to Cardinal Bembo well accords with 



122 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

the prevailing spirit of the time : " All the world knows 
how profitable this fable of Christ has been to us." The 
wide-spread infidelity made it necessary for the tenth 
Lateran Council to establish the doctrine of the immor- 
tality of the soul by a special decree. "When Luther was 
dispatched to Rome as envoy of the Augustine brother- 
hood, he was one day at table with several distinguished 
prelates. Their conversation, as he tells us, was impious. 
Among other things, they boasted that at mass, instead 
of the sacramental words which were to transform the 
bread and wine into the body and blood of our Saviour, 
they mockingly pronounced over tlie elements, " Bread 
thou art, and bread thou shalt remain ; wine thou art, 
and wine thou shalt remain." Blasphemy was never 
more shameless. 

The simple language of the Scriptures, which was 
offensive to the devotees of the ancient classics, was sub- 
ject to outrageous parody, and its sublime truths were 
translated into the terms of heathen mythology. The 
Holy Ghost was written the "breath of the heavenly 
zephyr " ; the expression to forgive sins was rendered 
" to bend the manes and the sovereign gods " ; and 
Christ, the Son of God, was changed into "Minerva, 
sprung from the head of Jupiter." The representatives 
of the Church, even those of the highest station, were 
guilty of monstrous crimes. The Vatican became the 
scene of treachery and murder, and the dissolute enter- 
tainments given in the pontifical palace surpassed the 
impure groves of antiquity in horrible licentious- 
ness. 

Such was the state of belief and morals prevailing in 
Rome at a time when ancient learning and the fine arts 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND THE HUMANISTS. 123 

were cultivated in a high degree. Well may Raumer 
exclaim : " How strangely united in one and the same 
land, at one and the same time, the most splendid and 
the most horrible ! What an angelic child must Raphael 
have been, yet his childhood falls at the iniquitous time 
of Alexander YI. Yea, how often in one and the same 
hero of art were united the most beautiful and the most 
hateful, the noblest and the most debased, pious devo- 
tion and detestable sensuality ! Into what sins he fell 
and sank, when his love for I^ature and antiquity de- 
generated into unrestrained and godless lust, and his art 
as his life became truly pagan ! " 

But we gladly tmii from Italy in order to contem- 
plate the results that followed the revival of learning in 
Germany. Fortunately for the world, the Germanic 
mind did not lose its earnestness and depth in studying 
the literary treasures of antiquity. The new learning 
was cultivated with as much zeal in Germany as beyond 
the Alps, but its results were utilized in the interests of 
a purer Christianity. The Greek and Hebrew Scriptures 
were studied as well as the classics of Greece and Rome. 
Critical editions of the Old and J^ew Testaments were 
published by able scholars, and thus the means were sup- 
plied for discovering and correcting the abuses intro- 
duced into the Church by the papacy. The traditions of 
the middle ages were broken, dissatisfaction with the ex- 
isting state of the Church was awakened, and the re- 
formers were supplied with an invincible weapon. In 
Italy the new learning became a minister of infidelity ; 
in Germany, of religion. 

The revival of learning in Germany led to a bitter 
conflict with the monks. The monasteries at this period 



12i FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

had sunk to a wretclied condition. Instead of the learn- 
ing and purity that characterized them in an earlier age, 
they had become nests of ignorance and depravity. Sen- 
sual indulgences had dulled the intellect and broken the 
energies of the body. " The monks had a pleasant time 
of it," says Luther ; " every brother had two cans of 
beer and a quart of wine for supper, with gingerbread, 
to make him take to his liquor kindly. Thus the poor 
things came to look like fiery angels." 

The monks, as the representatives of the established 
order of things, scented danger in the new learning. 
They foresaw that its continuance would unmask their 
ignorance, destroy their influence, and work their ruin • 
hence, their opposition became as desperate as it was 
unintelligent and hopeless. They protested that all 
heresies originated in Hebrew and Greek, particularly in 
the latter. " The New Testament," said one of them, 
" is a book full of serpents and thorns. Greek is a new 
and recently invented language, and we must be upon 
our guard against it. As for Hebrew, my dear breth- 
ren, it is certain that all who learn it immediately be- 
come Jews." The monks, particularly of the Dominican 
order, pursued like beasts of prey various representatives 
of the new learning. They were met, however, with a 
spirit of courage and truth before which they had to re- 
coil. Their ignorance and depravity were unmasked by 
Reuchlin and Erasmus. Almost crushing was the effect 
of a satire known as " The Letters of Obscure Men," 
and put forth by a coterie of humanists, of whom Ulric 
von Hiitten was the leader. With irresistible wit this 
satire exposed the profligacy, gross ignorance, coarse 
gluttony, and blind fanaticism of the monks. They 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND THE HUMANISTS. 125 

staggered "under tlie blow, and no other attack so effectu- 
allj broke their hold upon the people. 

There are two or three humanists whose labors for 
the cause of learning and Christianity are worthy of con- 
sideration. At the same time, we shall get further views 
of this conflict with the monks, and of the sad condition 
of the Church. 

(a.) ageicola. 

This able scholar, the father of German humanism, 
was bom, in 1443, near Groningen, Germany. His real 
name was Husmann (that is, houseman or husbandman), 
which, according to a custom of the humanists, he Lat- 
inized into Agricola. For a time he was a pupil of 
Thomas a Kempis ; then he passed several years at the 
University of Louvain ; subsequently he studied at Paris, 
and afterward in Italy, where he attended lectures of the 
most celebrated literary men of the age. His learning 
and eloquence gave him a wide reputation ; and, upon 
his return to Germany, several cities and courts vied 
with one another in the effort to secure his services. At 
length, upon the solicitation of Dalberg, Bishop of 
Worms, who was an old and intimate friend, he estab- 
lished himself at Heidelberg. He divided his time be- 
tween private studies and public lecturing ; and, through 
his labors and influence, he was largely insti'umental in 
transplanting the learning of Italy into his native land. 
" At a time," says Eaumer, " when the worst Latin pre- 
vailed in Germany, and such a degree of ignorance that 
good Latin was not in the least appreciated, and bad 
taste was admired, it was Agricola alone who began to 
feel those mistakes, and to have a desire for a better 



126 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

form of speech." He -understood Frencli and Italian, 
and set great store by liis motlier-tongne. At the age 
of forty-one he began the stndy of Hebrew, in order to 
be able to read the Old Testament in the original. 

The following extract will not be without interest, as 
showing Agricola's opinion of the schools of his time. 
Having been called to take charge of a school at Ant- 
werp, he writes : " A school is to be committed to me. 
That is a difficult and vexatious thing. A school is like 
a prison, in which there are blows, tears, and groans 
without end. H there is anything with a contradictory 
name, it is the school. The Greeks named it schola — 
that is, leisure; the Latins, ludus liter arius — Hterary 
play ; but there is nothing further from leisure than the 
school, nothing harder and more opposed to play. More 
correctly did it receive from Aristophanes the name 
jphrontizeHon — that is, place of care." 

He refused the school offered him, but he gave the 
authorities of Antwerp the following sensible advice : 
" It is necessary to exercise the greatest care in choosing 
a director for your school. Take neither a theologian 
nor a so-called rhetorician, who thinks he is able to 
speak of everything without understanding anything of 
eloquence. Such people make in school the same figure, 
according to the Greek proverb, that a dog does in a 
bath. It is necessary to seek a man resembling the 
phoenix of Achilles ; that is, who knows how to teach, 
to speak, and to act at the same time. If you know 
such a man, get him at any price ; for the matter involves 
the future of your children, whose tender youth receives 
with the same susceptibility the impress of good and of 
bad examples." 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND THE HUMANISTS. 127 

In anotlier letter Agricola has given interesting rules 
in regard to study : " 1 advise you," lie says, " to study 
philosophy ; that is, the science that teaches justness in 
thought, and precision in expression. Philosophy is 
divided into moral and natural. Moral philosophy is to 
be dra^\^l not alone from Aristotle, Cicero, and Seneca, 
but also from the facts of history. Thence one rises to 
the Bible, whose divine precepts are to serve as the rule 
of life. Ko other study has recognized clearly the end 
of life, and can hence claim exemption from error. 

"Natural philosophy is not as necessary as moral 
philosophy ; it is scarcely more than a means of culture. 

" It is necessary to study both of these branches of 
philosophy in the classic authors, in order to learn at the 
same time the art of speaking well. 

" I advise you to translate the classics into the mother- 
tongue as exactly as possible. In this way one learns to 
find easily the necessary Latin expressions for what one 
has thought in his own language. 

" It is necessary to ponder well in the mother-tongue 
what is to be written in Latin ; and, before seeking or- 
naments of style, we should learn to write correctly. 

" Whoever wishes to study with success must exer- 
cise himself in these three things : in getting clear views 
of a subject ; in fixing in his memory what he has un- 
derstood ; and in producing something from his 0"\vn 
resources. 

" It is necessary to read with care, and to seek to 
understand the scope as well as the details of books. 
Nevertheless, it is not well to spend too much time in 
clearing up obscurities ; one often finds their elucidation 
further on. One day gives light to another. 



128 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME, 

" It is necessary to exercise one's self in composition ; 
when we produce nothing, what we have learned re- 
mains dead. The knowledge that we acquire ought to 
be like seed sown in the earth, germinating and bearing 
fruit. 

" But to produce, two things are needed : abihty to 
arrange at pleasure the ideas committed to our memory, 
and then ability to deduce something new from what we 
already know. 

" In order to invent, it is very important that we 
have general ideas, under which all our knowledge may 
be classified. Then it is a great help to know how to 
analyze and consider a subject in all its aspects. . . • 
Whoever understands well these two things, classifica- 
tion and analysis, may attain to the facility of speech 
characteristic of the Greek sophists, and speak extempo- 
raneously upon a given subject as long as he wishes." 

(b.) keuchlin. 

Heuchlin may be justly regarded as the father of 
modem Hebrew studies. When he published his He- 
brew grammar, in 1506 — the first work of the kind pro- 
duced in Germany — he did not make a mistake in 
repeating the well-known boast of Horace : " Exegi 
monumentum aere perennitis " — "I have erected a 
monument more durable than brass." He was bom at 
Pforzheim, Germany, in 1455. In 1473 he went to the 
University of Paris, where he studied Greek under a 
native, and made the acquaintance of John Wessel. His 
religious views were molded to some extent by Wessel, 
of whom Luther has said : " If I had known the writings 
of Wessel, my adversaries could say that I have only 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND TEE HUMANISTS. 129 

followed him, so mucli do our minds agree. I experience 
great joy, and I do not doubt the truth of my teachings, 
when I see how we are constantly in harmony, and say 
the same things almost in the same words." 

After leaving Paris, Keuchlin taught philosophy, 
Latin, and Greek at Basel ; subsequently he became 
professor at Tubingen. In 1498 he was sent to Italy on 
an embassy ; and, on the occasion of a solemn audience 
before the papal court, he delivered an address in such 
admirable Latin that the pope exclaimed, " This man 
certainly deserves to rank with the best orators of France 
and Italy ! " While in Rome, Eeuchlin employed all his 
leisure in studying Hebrew under a learned Jew, and 
in collecting Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. At this 
time Argyropolos, a distinguished Greek, was delivering 
lectures in Rome upon the literature of his native coun- 
try. As Reuchlin one day entered the hall with a num- 
ber of his friends, he was asked by the lecturer whence 
he came, and if he understood Greek. He replied, " I 
am a German, and not wholly unacquainted with your 
language." He was given a copy of " Thucydides," and 
requested to explain it. This he did with such ease and 
eloquence that Argyropolos exclaimed in astonishment, 
" Our fugitive and exiled Greece has already fled beyond 
the Alps ! " 

The motive that urged him to prosecute his studies 
in Hebrew is thus explained by Reuchlin, in a letter to 
Cardinal Hadrian : " I devoted myself to the Hebrew 
language because I perceived the great value which it 
would have for religion and true theology. To this end 
I have always directed my labors, and continue to direct 
them more than ever. As a true worshiper of our Lord, 



130 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

I have done all for the restoration and glorification of 
the tnie Christian Church." 

" But Reuchlin," says D'Aubigne, " endeavored to 
promote the cause of truth as much by his life as by his 
writings. By his lofty stature, his commanding person, 
and his engaging address, he immediately gained the 
confidence of all with whom he had to deal. His thirst 
for knowledge was only equaled by his zeal in com- 
municating what he had learned. He spared neither 
labor nor money to introduce into Germany the editions 
of the classic writers as they issued from the Itahan 
presses, and thus the usher's son did more to enlighten 
his fellow-countrymen than rich coi'porations or mighty 
princes. His influence over youth was very extensive, 
and who can estimate all that the Reformation owes to 
him in that respect ? " Melanchthon, the illustrious col- 
laborator of Luther, was his adopted son and pupil. 

In the year 1510 began a prolonged and acrimonious 
controversy about Hebrew hterature. A baptized Jew- 
ish rabbi, John Pfefferkom, with the zeal of a proselyte, 
appealed to the Emperor Maximilian to have all Jewish 
books except the Bible destroyed. Reuchlin, having 
been soHcited to give his opinion, advised the destruction 
of only such books as were written against Christianity. 
" The best way," he added, " to convert the Israelites 
would be to establish two professors of the Hebrew lan- 
guage in each university, who should teach the theolo- 
gians to read the Bible in Hebrew, and thus refute the 
Jewish doctors." This position exposed Reuchlin to the 
most virulent attacks from the monks ; but the friends 
of learning rallied to his support, and after nine years' 
conflict gave him the victory. 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND THE HUMANISTS. 131 

Luther appreciated the importance of Reuchlin's 
work, and wrote to him shortly after the defeat of the 
Dominican monks as follows : " The Lord has been at 
work in you, that the light of holy Scripture might 
begin to shine in that Germany where for so many years, 
alas ! it was not only stifled but entirely extinct." 

(c.) EEASMU8. 

Erasmus was, perhaps, the acutest scholar of his day. 
In his early youth he exliibited unusual precocity, and 
gave promise of future distinction. When a young 
pupil at Deventer, he was one day enthusiastically em- 
braced by his teacher with these words, " You will one 
day attain the highest summit of knowledge." Agricola, 
who saw him at the age of twelve years, was so impressed 
by the young scholar's appearance that he said to him, 
" You will one day become a great man." These pre- 
dictions were fulfilled. 

Erasmus was born at Rotterdam, in 1407. Having 
been left an orphan at an early age, he was placed in a 
convent by his guardians with a view, it is said, of seiz- 
ing upon his patrimony. Though life in a monastery 
was distasteful to him beyond measure, he prosecuted his 
studies with extraordinary zeal. He made considerable 
attainments in Greek, which he taught himself, while 
his Latin was as polished as Cicero's. Having been sent 
to the University of Paris by the Archbishop of Cam- 
bray, he studied theology and literature with great suc- 
cess. Afterward he traveled in England, France, and 
Germany, everywhere receiving the homage accorded 
to native genius and vast acquirements. In Italy tempt- 
ing positions were offered him by the pope and by mem- 



132 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

bers of the papal court ; but, rejecting all overtures that 
might compromise his independence, he located at Basel, 
in the hope of learned leisure and retirement. In this 
he was disappointed ; for he was dragged into religious 
controversies, which cost him his popularity and peace 
of mind, and filled his latter days with bitterness. 

Erasmus contributed to the Keformation in several 
ways. At a time of religious persecution, he preached 
a tolerance far in advance of his day. He advocated 
orthodoxy in Christian life rather than in speculative 
theology. "Let us have done," he says, "with theo- 
logical refinements. There is an excuse for the fathers, 
because the heretics forced them to define particular 
points ; but every definition is a misfortune, and for us 
to persevere in the same way is sheer folly. Js no man 
to be admitted to grace who does not know how the 
Father differs from the Son, and both from the Spirit ? 
or how the nativity of the Son differs from the proces- 
sion of the Spirit ? Unless I forgive my brother his 
sins against me, God will not forgive me my sins. Un- 
less I have a pure heart — unless I put away envy, hate, 
pride, avarice, lust — I shall not see God. But a man is 
not damned because he can not tell whether the Spirit 
has one principle or two. Has he the fruits of the 
Spirit ? That is the question. Is he patient, kind, good, 
gentle, modest, temperate, chaste ? Inquire if you will, 
but do not define. True religion is peace, and we can 
not have peace unless we leave the conscience unshackled 
on obscure points on which certainty is impossible." 

The most valuable service that Erasmus rendered the 
Keformation was his publication of the !N"ew Testament 
in Greek. It was a scholarly work, and one of the most 



REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND THE HUMANISTS. 133 

beautiful fruits of tlie revival of letters. The work was 
undertaken in the interests of a purer Christianity. " It 
is my desire," he said, in his preface, " to lead back that 
cold dispute about words called theology to its real fount- 
ain. Would to God that this work may bear as much 
fruit to Christianity as it has cost me toil and applica- 
tion ! " 

Though accomplishing no little for the purification 
of the Church, Erasmus was by no means qualified to 
become a thorough reformer. He lacked courage and 
heroic devotion to truth. "As to me," he confessed 
frankly, " I have no inclination to risk my life for the 
truth. We have not all strength for martyrdom ; and, 
if trouble come, I shall imitate St. Peter. Popes and 
emperors must settle creeds. If they settle them well, 
so much the better ; if ill, I shall keep on the safe side." 
To this confession corresponded his conduct when the 
conflicts of the Reformation began. He avoided taking a 
positive stand. Finally, by his indecision and duplicity, 
he lost the confidence of both Lutherans and Roman- 
ists, and exposed himself to bitter attacks from both 
parties. 

In his numerous writings, Erasmus has repeatedly 
touched upon educational topics. He always displays 
keenness of penetration and soundness of judgment. 
He thus inveighs against the superficial imitation of 
Cicero then prevalent : " You are charged," he says to 
the Ciceronians, " with a very difiicult task ; for, besides 
the errors of language that have escaped Cicero, the 
copyists have sown his works with a multitude of mis- 
takes, and many of the writings attributed to this author 
are not authentic. Finally, his verses translated from 



134 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

the Greek are wortli nothing. And you would imitate 
all that, the good and the bad, the authentic and the 
non-authentic ! Certainly, youi* imitation is very super- 
ficial ; it is unworthy of your master. Your imitation is 
servile, cold, and dead, without life, mthout movement, 
without feeling ; it is an apishness in which one discov- 
ers none of the virtues that have made the glory of 
Cicero, such as his happy inspiration, the intelhgent dis- 
position of his subjects, the wisdom with which he treats 
each subject, his large acquaintance with men and affairs, 
and his ability to move those who hear him. These are 
what should be imitated in Cicero ; and, in order to imi- 
tate him, we must, like him, identify ourselves with the 
age in which we live, that we may be able to adapt our 
language to it ; otherwise, our speech has no longer that 
seal of reality which animated tlie discourse of Cicero." 

In reference to reading an author in class, Erasmus 
says : " The teacher ought to explain only what is strictly 
necessary for understanding the author; he ought to 
resist the temptation of making on every occasion a dis- 
play of his knowledge. The end of this rule is to con- 
centrate the attention of the pupil upon his author, to 
bring him into contact with him. Too many digressions 
break the force of the author, and prevent the pupil 
from feeling and enjoying that inspiration, so well suited 
to quicken him who breathes it freely." 

Erasmus advocated the study of history, geography, 
natural history, and agriculture. In doing so, he was in 
advance of his time. Yet he found the worth of these 
studies, not in themselves, but in the light they would 
throw upon classic literature. Luther, who was probably 
the first to recognize the intrinsic worth of the natural 



RELATION OF THE REFORMATION TO EDUCATION. 135 

sciences, says : " "We are at the dawn of a new era, for 
we are beginning to recover the knowledge of the ex- 
ternal world that we had lost since the fall of Adam. 
Erasmus is indifferent to it ; he does not care to know 
how fruit is developed from the germ. But, by the 
grace of God, we already recognize in the most delicate 
flower the wonders of divine goodness and the omnipo- 
tence of God. AVe see in his creatures the power of his 
word. He commanded, and the thing stood fast. See 
that force display itself in the stone of a peach. It is 
very hard, and the germ that it incloses is very tender ; 
but, when the moment has come, the stone must open to 
let out the young plant that God calls into life. Eras- 
mus passes by all that, takes no account of it, and looks 
upon external objects as cows look upon a new gate." 



2. The Relation of the Reformation to Educa- 
tion. 

(a.) the condition of the chuech. 

After the foregoing sketch of concurring circum- 
stances, particularly of the revival of letters, we return 
to the Reformation itself. In order to appreciate fully 
its great influence upon education, it is necessary to have 
a clear conception of the sad condition of the Church 
and schools at the opening of the sixteenth century. In 
our study of humanism, we have seen the skepticism 
prevaihng at the court of Leo X., and the ignorance and 
vice existing in the monasteries. The same unnatural 
and ruinous elements were found in all ranks of the 
Church. It was a time of gi*eat moral and intellectual 



136 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

degeneracy. Learning had died out among the clergy ; 
the schools were neglected ; superstition and ignorance 
characterized the masses. We will let contemporaries 
present the details of this sorrowful picture. A distin- 
guished theologian of Germany, writing in 1503, says : 
" The study of theology is despised ; the gospel of 
Cluist, as well as the admirable writings of the fathers, 
is neglected ; of faith, piety, temperance, and other vir- 
tues, praised even by the better heathen ; of the mir- 
acles of God's grace toward us, and of the merits of 
Christ, there is profound silence. And such people, 
who understand neither philosophy nor theology, are 
elevated to the highest dignities of the Church, and are 
made bishops of souls. Hence the pitiable decline of 
the Christian Church, the contempt of the clergy, and 
the utter want of good teachers. The infamous life of 
the clergy deters honest parents from consecrating their 
sons to this office. They completely neglect the study 
of holy Scripture, lose taste for its beauty and power, 
become lazy and lukewarm in their office, and content 
themselves with dispatching divine service as quickly as 
possible. With a man who owes them money, they 
speak more earnestly and circumspectly than with their 
Creator. Oppressed with a sense of weariness in their 
office, they turn to play, rioting, and debauchery, with- 
out minding in the least the popular contempt. How 
can it be possible, under the circumstances, for the laity 
to respect them and religion at all ? The gospel calls 
the way to heaven narrow, but they make it broad and 
jovial." 

After visiting the churches and schools of Thurin- 
gia, by order of the Elector John, Melanchthon writes : 



RELATION OF THE REFORMATION TO EDUCATION. 137 

" What can be offered in justification, that these poor peo- 
ple have hitherto been left in such great ignorance and 
stupidity? Mj heart bleeds when I regard this misery. 
Often when we have completed the visitation of a place, 
I go to one side and pour forth my distress in tears. 
And who would not mourn to see the faculties of man 
so utterly neglected, and that his soul, which is able to 
learn and grasp so much, does not even know anything 
of its Creator and Lord ? " 

After the visitation of the churches of Saxony, in 
1528, Luther wrote in the preface of his " Small Cate- 
chism " : " The pitiable need which I recently witnessed, 
as visitor, has compelled me to prepare this catechism 
on Christian doctrine in such simple form. Alas ! what 
a sad state of things I witnessed ! The common people, 
especially in the villages, are utterly ignorant of the 
Christian doctrine ; even many pastors are wholly un- 
qualified to teach ; and yet all are called Christians, are 
baptized, and partake of the sacrament, knowing neither 
the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, nor the Ten Conmiand- 
ments, and living and acting like irrational beasts. Nev- 
ertheless, now that the precious gospel has appeared 
again, they readily leam to abuse all freedom. O you 
bishops ! how will you ever answer to Christ for having 
so shamefully neglected the people, and for not having 
exercised one moment your office that you might escape 
all evil?" 

Another passage or two from Luther must suffice, in 
addition to what has already been said, to indicate the 
wretched state of education at the time of the Reforma- 
tion. " Is it not truly pitiable," he says, " that a boy 
has been obliged to study twenty years or longer to learn 



138 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

enough bad Latin to become a priest and read mass ? 
And whoever has accomjDhshed that has been called 
blessed, and blessed the mother who has borne such a 
child ; and jet he has remained a poor, ignorant man all 
his life long, unfit for any useful vocation. Such teach- 
ers and masters we have been obliged to have every- 
where, who have known nothing themselves, and have 
been able to teach nothing good or useful ; yea, they 
have not known the way in which one should leara and 
teach." Elsewhere he says : " Is it not obvious that a 
boy can now be instructed so that he knows more in his 
fifteenth or eighteenth year than all the universities and 
convents have hitherto known ? Yea, what have they 
taught in the universities and convents but to become 
blockheads? A man has studied twenty, forty years, 
and has learned neither Latin nor German. Of the 
shameful, licentious life, by which the generous youth 
have been destroyed, I say nothing." 

(b.) PKmOIPLES OF PEOTESTAJSTTISM. 

The fundamental principles of Protestantism are fa- 
vorable to education. The two great truths underlying 
the Reformation are — 1. Man is justified by faith alone ; 
2. The Bible is the only rule of religious faith and prac- 
tice. In the Protestant Chm'ch, all become by faith 
kings and priests unto God. The only mediator between 
God and man is Jesus Christ ; and, through him, all 
behevers, without the intervention of priest, saint, or 
pope, have immediate access to the Father. With the 
Scriptures and his conscience for guides, every man is 
elevated to the freedom and dignity of ordering his own 
rehgious life. The feeling of individual responsibility 



RELATION OF THE REFORMATION TO EDUCATION. I39 

is awakened, and the spirit of inquiry fostered. Intel- 
ligence becomes a necessity. The Bible must be stud- 
ied ; teachers must be provided ; schools must be estab- 
lished. Protestantism becomes the mother of popular 
education. 

Justification by faith goes further. It makes Christ, 
and not the Church, the center of Christianity. Per- 
sonal union with him constitutes the Cliristian. Rehgion 
consists in exemplifying his principles in all the relations 
of life ; in being pure, humble, temperate, honest, lov- 
ing; in being like the great Teacher himself. It in- 
volves a thorough transformation of individual character. 
It does not withdraw man from the ordinary callings 
and relations of life ; it makes him a steward of God 
in the world, and exalts his daily labors in the house- 
hold, in the school-room, in the workshop, on the farm, 
into a divine service. The Protestant view restores 
Nature, as a subject of investigation, to its rights. The 
whole circle of knowledge — whatever is elevating, what- 
ever prepares for useful living — is held in honor. Pii- 
mary and secondary schools are encouraged ; the best 
methods of instruction, based upon a study of man's na- 
ture and not upon the interests of the Church, are souglit 
out ; education is based upon a broad and solid founda- 
tion. Protestantism is the friend of universal learning. 

" In rendering man responsible for his faith, and in 
placing the source of that faith in holy Scripture," says 
Michel Breal, an able French scholar, " the Reformation 
contracted the obligation of placing every one in a con- 
dition to save himself by reading and studying the Bible. 
Instruction became then the first of the duties of charity ; 
and all who had charge of souls, from the father of a 



140 F'ROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

family to the magistrates of cities and to the sovereign 
of the state, were called upon, in the name of their own 
salvation, and each according to the measure of his re- 
sponsibility, to favor popular education. Thus Protest- 
antism, by a comiection of ideas whose pliilosophic 
value can not be here discussed, but whose practical 
consequences were of inestimable value, placed in the 
service of education the most effective stimukis and the 
most powerful interest that can be brought to bear upon 
men." 

3. The Eefor3Iers. 

(a..) LUTHER. 

The greatest of the Reformers, whether we consider 
his relation to the Church or to education, was Martin 
Luther. Carlyle has paid him a glowing tribute. " I 
will call this Luther," he says, " a true great man ; great 
in intellect, in courage, affection, and integrity ; one of 
our most lovable and precious men. Great not as a 
hewn obelisk, but as an Alpine mountain, so simple, 
honest, spontaneous, not setting up to be great at all ; 
there for quite another purpose than being great ! Ah, 
yes, unsubduable granite, piercing far and wide into the 
heavens ; yet in the clefts of it fountains, green and 
beautiful valleys with flowers ! A right spiritual hero 
and prophet ; once more a true son of Nature and fact, 
for whom these centuries, and many that are to come 
yet, will be thankful to Heaven." 

Luther was bom at Eisleben, Germany, ^N^ovember 
10, 1483. His father was a miner in humble circum- 
stances. The home-training which he received was se- 



THE REFORMERS. 141 

vere and hardening. His father sometimes whipped 
him " for a mere trifle till the blood came." At school, 
he came under the prevalent crnel discipline, and was 
flogged, as he tells us, fifteen times during a single fore- 
noon. After studying at schools in Magdeburg and Eise- 
nach, he entered the University of Erfurt at eighteen, 
and in three years took his degree of Master of Arts. 
He was designed by his father for the law ; but, finding 
a copy of the Bible in the university library one day, 
he was moved by its contents, and resolved upon devot- 
ing himself to the monastic life. He entered the Au- 
gustinian convent at Erfurt. Here he spent three years 
in profound study, passed through great spiritual trials, 
and laid the foundation of those doctrinal convictions 
which were shortly to shake the world. In 1508 he was 
called to a chair in the University of Wittenberg, and 
the following year he commenced lecturing upon the 
holy Scriptures. " This monk," said the rector of the 
university, " will puzzle our doctors and bring in a new 
doctrine." About the same time he began to preach, 
profoundly moving his hearers. '' His words," Melanch- 
thon said, " were born not on his lips but in his soul." 
In 1511 he made a visit to Kome, and observed the 
profligacy of the papal court. After his return to Wit- 
tenberg the sale of indulgences by Tetzel aroused his 
indignation, and he prepared ninety-five theses, in which 
he maintained that only God can forgive sin. He nailed 
his theses to the church-door, October 31, 151T, and 
offered to defend them against the world. This was the 
birth-hour of the Reformation. He was soon brought 
to open rupture with the Church, and in 1521 he was 
summoned before the Imperial Diet at Worms to answer 



14,2 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

for liis doctrines. It was here tliat he made that noble 
declaration which marks a turning-point in history, and 
ushers in the era of personal freedom. Confronted 
by the authority of the pope, the opinions of Church 
fathers, and the decrees of councils, Luther was called 
upon to recant. " Unless I am proved to be in error," 
he replies, " by testimony from Holy Writ, or by clear 
and overpowering reasons, I can not and will not recant, 
because it is neither safe nor advisable to do anything 
against conscience. Here I stand ; I can not do other- 
wise. God help me. Amen ! " 

It would extend this sketch too far to follow Luther 
through all the mighty labors and stiTiggles of his sub- 
sequent conflict with the papacy. The result is well 
known. Sustained by the almighty Power upon which 
he so confidently relied, he conducted the Reformation 
to a successful issue. Civil and religious hberty were 
given to the world. In spite of the rage of his enemies, 
he was permitted to pass away peacefully in 1546. 

The necessities of the Reformation gave Luther an 
intense interest in education. The schools of the time, 
already inadequate in number and defective in method, 
were crippled during the early stages of the Reforma- 
tion by the excited and unsettled condition of society. 
A new generation was growing up without education. 
The establishment of schools became a necessary measure 
for the success and permanence of the Reformation. 
The appeal had been made to the Word of God, and it 
was necessary to teach the masses to read it. Preachers 
and teachers were needed for the promulgation and de- 
fense of the gospel ; enlightened and pious rulers, for 
the government of city and state. As early as 1524, 



THE REFORMERS. 

Luther made an appeal of marvelous energy to the au- 
thorities of the German cities for the establishment of 
schools. If we consider its pioneer character, in con- 
nection with its statement of principles and admirable 
recommendations, the address must be regarded the most 
important educational treatise ever written. 

With Luther education was not an end in itself, but 
a means to more effective service in church and state. 
If people or rulers neglect the education of the young, 
they inflict an injury upon both church and state ; they 
become the enemies of God and man ; they advance the 
cause of Satan, and bring down upon themselves the 
curse of Heaven. This is the fundamental thought that 
underlies all Luther's writings upon education. The 
following extract presents his views in brief compass : 
" The common man," he says, " does not think that he 
is under obhgation to God and the world to send his 
son to school. Every one thinks that he is free to bring 
up his son as he pleases, no matter what becomes of 
God's word and command. Yea, even our rulers act as 
if they were exempt from the divine command. 'No 
one thinks that God has earnestly willed and commanded 
that children be brought up to his praise and work — a 
thing that can not be done without schools. On the con- 
trary, every one hastens with his cliildren after worldly 
gain, as if God and Christianity needed no pastors and 
preachers, and the state no chancellors, councilors, and 
scribes." 

In his letter to the councilors of the German cities, 
Luther says : " But even if there were no soul, and we 
had not the least need of schools and the languages for 
the sake of the Scriptures and of God, this one reason 



FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

should suffice to cause tlie establisliment of the very best 
schools everywhere, both for boys and girls, namely, 
that the world needs accomplished men, and women 
also, for maintaining its outward temporal prosperity, so 
that the men may be capable of properly governing the 
country and people, and the women of superintending 
the house, children, and servants. Now, such men must 
come of boys, and such women of girls ; therefore, the 
object must be rightly to instruct and educate boys and 
girls for these purposes." 

Luther wisely insisted upon the maintenance of fam- 
ily discipline as a measure of public safety and pros- 
perity. " What is a city," he asks, " other than a col- 
lection of families ? How, then, can a city be well gov- 
erned, where there is no government in the family ; yea, 
where neither child nor servant is obedient ? Likewise, 
a district ; what is it other than a collection of cities, 
towns, and villages ? Where now the families are badly 
governed, how can a whole district be well governed ? 
Yea, the result must be tyranny, witchcraft, murder, 
theft, disobedience. Again, a principality is a collection 
of districts and duchies, a kingdom a collection of prin- 
cipalities, an empire a collection of kingdoms. These 
are all composed of separate families. Where now 
father and mother govern badly, and let children have 
their own way, there can neither city, town, village, dis- 
trict, principality, kingdom, nor empire be well and 
peacefully governed. For the son will become a father, 
judge, mayor, prince, king, emperor, preacher, school- 
master ; if he has been badly brought up, the subjects 
will become like their master, the members like their 
head." 



THE REFORMERS. 145 

Luther set a liigli estimate upon the office of teach- 
ing. " Where would preachers, lawyers, and physicians 
come from," he asks, " if the hberal arts were not taught ? 
From this source must they all come. This I say, no 
one can ever sufficiently remunerate the industrious and 
pious teacher that faithfully educates children, as the 
heathen Aristotle has said. And yet people shamefully 
despise this calling among us, as if it were nothing, and 
at the same time they pretend to be Christians 1 If I 
were obliged to leave off preaching and other duties, 
there is no office I would rather have than that of 
school-teacher ; for I know that this work is with preach- 
ing the most useful, greatest, and best : and I do not 
know which of the two is to be preferred. For it is 
difficult to make old dogs docile and old rogues pious, 
yet that is what the ministry works at, and must work 
at, in great part, in vain; but young trees, although 
some may break, are more easily bent and trained. 
Therefore, let it be one of the highest virtues on earth 
faithfully to educate the children of others who neglect 
it themselves." 

Luther justly looked upon learning as a source of 
wealth and power to a community. " Therefore it will 
be proper for the civil authorities," he says, " to exercise 
the greatest possible care and industry in regard to the 
young ; for, since the interests of the city are committed 
to their trust, they would not do well before God and 
the world if they did not seek with all their might to 
promote its prosperity. Now, the prosperity of a city 
does not consist alone in vast treasures, strong walls, 
beautiful houses, large supplies of muskets and armor ; 
yea, when these things are found, and fools exercise 
7 



146 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

authority, it is so mucli the worse for the city. The 
best and richest treasure of a city is that it have many 
pure, learned, intelligent, honest, well-educated citizens, 
for these can collect, preserve, and properly use whatever 
is good." 

There is scarcely any phase of education that Luther 
left untouched. Everywhere he exhibited the same 
strong good sense. " If we sm-vey the pedagogy of Lu- 
ther in all its extent," says Dittos, " and imagine it fully 
realized in practice, what a splendid picture the schools 
and education of the sixteenth century would present ! 
We should have courses of study, text-books, teachers, 
methods, principles, and modes of discipline, schools and 
school regulations, that could serve as models for our 
own age. But, alas! Luther, like all great men, was 
little understood by his age and adherents; and what 
was understood was inadequately esteemed, and what 
was esteemed was only imperfectly realized." 

Luther could not devote himseK directly or chiefly 
to the cause of education. As was once the case with 
the apostle Paul, " the care of all the churches " was 
upon him. It was through his writings and personal 
influence that he affected education. The great need he 
saw during the visitation of the churches in Saxony led 
him, in 1529, to prepare his catechisms for the instruc- 
tion of both clergy and laity. In 1534 he published his 
translation of the Bible, which had an almost incredible 
educational influence upon Germany. The people seized 
upon it with avidity, and in the course of a few years 
nearly half a milhon copies were in circulation. It fixed 
the German language, which had previously been broken 
up into rival dialects. A Roman writer of the time says : 



THE REFORMERS. 147 

"Even shoemakers, -women, and ignorant people, who 
have learned only a little German, are eagerly reading 
the New Testament as the fountain of all truth ; and 
that, moreover, with such frequency that they know it 
by heart. They also carry it about in their pockets, and 
in this way conceive in a few weeks such a high opinion 
of their knowledge that they dispute not only with 
Catholic laymen, but with the priests and monks, and 
even with doctors of theology, about faith and the 
gospel." 

Luther's efforts in behalf of education were not fruit- 
less. All Protestant Germany was aroused by his ap- 
peals. In 1525 he was commissioned by the Duke of 
Mansfield to establish two schools in his native town, 
Eisleben, one for primary and the other for secondary 
instruction. Both in the course of study, and in the 
methods of instruction, these schools became models 
after which many others were fasliioned. As a direct 
and comprehensive result of Luther's educational en- 
deavors, the forms of church government adopted by 
the various Protestant cities and states contained pro- 
visions for the establishment and management of 
schools. In a few years the Protestant portion of 
Germany was supplied with schools. They were still 
defective in almost every particular ; but, at the same 
time, they were greatly superior to any that had pre- 
ceded them. Though no complete system of popular 
instruction was established, the foundation for it was 
laid. To this great result Luther contributed more 
than any other man of his time ; and this fact makes 
him the leading educational reformer of the sixteenth 
century. 



148 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
(b.) MELANCnXHON. 

Philip Melanclithon has been honored with the title 
Preceptor Germanice. Excepting Luther, no other re- 
former did so much for education in Germany. His 
real name was Schwarzerd, meaning hlach earth ' but 
this was translated by Reuchlin into the more euphoni- 
ous Greek equivalent, Melanchthon. He was born at 
Bretten, Germany, in 1497, where he received his early 
education from a strict but faithful schoolmaster. " I 
had a teacher," he tells us, " who was an excellent gram- 
marian, and held me rigidly to grammar. Whenever I 
made mistakes I received blows, yet with moderation. 
In this way he made a grammarian out of me. He was 
a good man ; he loved me as his son, and I him as my 
father." 

His precocity and thirst for knowledge were remark- 
able. Reuchlin admired the young scholar's ability, and 
one day playfully brought him a doctor's hat. Erasmus 
had a high opinion of him. " My God ! " he exclaimed, 
" what promising hopes does Philip Melanchthon give 
us, who, yet a youth, yes almost a boy, deserves equal 
esteem for his knowledge of both languages ! What 
sagacity in argument, what purity of expression, what a 
rare and comprehensive knowledge, what extensive read- 
ing, what a dehcacy and elegance of mind does he not 
display ! " 

Melanchthon attended the University of Heidelberg, 
and took his bachelor's degree there at the age of fif- 
teen. About this time he prepared a Greek grammar, 
which was not published, however, till several years 
later. He spent six years at the University of Tiibin- 



THE REFORMERS. IJ.9 

gen, first as a student and afterward as a lecturer. In 
1518 he was called to the chair of Greek at the Univer- 
sity of Wittenberg. His small stature, youthful look, 
and timid manner, made at first an unfavorable impres- 
sion; but his introductory lecture captivated his hear- 
ers, and established his reputation. Luther, in particular, 
was delighted, and wrote to his friend Spalatin as fol- 
lows : " Philip dehvered a very learned and chaste ad- 
dress on the fourth day after his arrival, and that too 
with such applause and admiration on every side, that 
you need not trouble yourself further in commending 
him to us. We must look away from his exterior ap- 
pearance ; we rejoice in his gifts, at the same time that 
we are amazed at them ; and we heartily thank our gra- 
cious prince, as well as your own assistance," 

A warm affection and lasting intimacy soon sprang 
up between Luther and Melanchthon. They were com- 
plements of each other. This fact has been well exhib- 
ited by D'Aubigne in the following parallel : " Luther 
possessed warmth, vigor, strength ; Melanchthon, clear- 
ness, discretion, and mildness. Luther gave energy to Me- 
lanchthon, Melanchthon moderated Luther. They were 
like substances in a state of positive and negative elec- 
tricity, which mutually act upon each other. If Luther 
had been without Melanchthon, perhaps the torrent would 
have overflowed its banks ; Melanchthon, when Luther 
was taken from him by death, hesitated and gave way, 
even where he should not have yielded. Luther did 
much by power ; Melanchthon perhaps did no less by 
following a gentler and more tranquil method. Both 
were upright, open-hearted, generous ; both ardently 
loved the Word of eternal Hfe, and obeyed it with 



150 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

a fidelity and devotion that governed their whole 
lives." 

During his whole life Melanchthon was a student of 
remarkable industry. He often arose as early as two or 
three o'clock in the morning to pursue his studies, and 
many of his works were written between that hour and 
dawn. Literature was his passion, and it was against 
his will that he was drawn into theological controversy. 
On one occasion a Frenchman visited him at his home 
in "Wittenberg. He found Melanchthon in the nursery, 
where he was rocking the cradle with one hand, while 
he held a book in the other. Observing the surprise of 
his guest, Melanchthon praised domestic life, and the 
gratitude of children toward God, in such appreciative 
terms that the stranger went away greatly edified. 

Melanchthon earnestly desired the diffusion of learn- 
ing. "I apply myself solely to one thing," he says, 
" the defense of letters. By our example we must excite 
youth to the admiration of learning, and induce them to 
love it for its own sake, and not for the advantage that 
may be derived from it. The destruction of learning 
brings with it the ruin of everything that is good — re- 
ligion, morals, and all things human and divine. The 
better a man is, the greater his ardor in the preservation 
of learning ; for he knows that of all plagues ignorance 
is the most pernicious." He says again : " To neglect 
the young in our schools is just like taking the spring 
out of the year. They, indeed, take away the spring 
from the year who permit the schools to decline, because 
religion can not be maintained without them. And a 
terrible darkness wiU fall upon society, if the study of 
the sciences should be neglected ! " 



THE REFORMERS. 151 

Melanclithon exerted an influence upon tlie educa- 
tional progress of Germany in various ways. First of 
all, lie was an able teacher, whose instruction was largely 
attended. Two thousand students, from all parts of 
Europe, thronged his lecture-room at Wittenberg, and 
bore away the precious seed both of the gospel and of 
ancient learning. His personal relations with students 
were pecuharly cordial. He welcomed them to his 
home, and gave them individual encouragement and aid* 
" I can truthfully affirm," he says, " that I love all the 
students with a fatherly affection, and feel the greatest 
solicitude for their welfare." Many of the leading edu- 
cators of Protestant Germany, among whom may be 
mentioned Camerarius, Michael JSTeander, and Trotzen- 
dorf, were once his students. He contributed to the 
advancement of learning by his text-books. Besides a 
Greek and a Latin grammar, he published works on 
logic, ethics, rhetoric, and physics, and prepared anno- 
tated editions of the principal ancient classics. These 
works, written in a clear and scientific form, soon be- 
came popular, and some of them held their place in the 
schools for more than a hundred years. To him we are 
indebted for the well-known definition, "Grammar is 
the science of speaking and writing correctly." 

To Melanchthon belongs the honor of having pro- 
duced the first work on dogmatic theology in the Prot- 
estant Church. It appeared in 1521, and is known as 
the Loci Communes. Luther set a high estimate upon 
this work. " Whoever wishes to become a theologian 
now," he says, "enjoys great advantages; for, first of 
all, he has the Bible, which is so clear that he can read 
it vdthout difficulty. Then let him read in addition 



152 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

the Loci Communes of Melanchthon ; let him read them 
dihgently and well, that he may impress them upon his 
mind. If he has these two things, he is a theologian, 
from whom neither the devil nor heretics shall be able 
to take away anything. To him the whole field of the- 
ology lies open, so that he is able to read anything he 
pleases after that with edification." 

In 1528 Melanchthon drew np the "Saxony School 
Plan," which served as the basis of organization for many 
schools throughout Germany. Among other things, he 
says : " There are now many abuses in the schools. In 
order that the young may be properly taught, we have 
prepared this form : First, the teachers should see to it 
that the children learn only Latin, not German, or 
Greek, or Hebrew, as some have hitherto done, burden- 
ing the children with a multiplicity of studies that were 
not only unfruitful, but even hurtful. It is also plain 
that such teachers do not consider the good of the chil- 
dren, but take up so many studies for the sake of repu- 
tation. Secondly, the teacher should not burden the 
children with too many books, and should, in every way, 
avoid multiplicity in his instruction. Thirdly, it is 
necessary that the children be divided into classes." 
Three classes or grades are recommended. In the first, 
reading, writing, music, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer 
were to be taught ; in the second, Latin grammar and 
the easier Latin authors, in connection "with continued 
religious instruction ; in the third, Latin grammar was 
completed, the more difficult Latin authors were taken 
up, and versification, rhetoric, and logic were intro- 
duced. Latin, at length, became the language of daily 
intercourse. 



THE REFORMERS. 153 

(c.) ZWINGLI AND CALVESr. 

A few words must sufiice for the other leading re- 
formers. Zwingli and Calvin both appreciated the im- 
portance of education, and contributed directly to its 
advancement. The ecclesiastical polity which Calvin 
established in Geneva, in 1541, provided teachers to give 
instruction in the ancient languages. As early as 1524, 
the same year that Luther made his appeal to the au- 
thorities of the German cities, Zwingh pubhshed a little 
work on teaching, which exhibits a considerable degree 
of pedagogical knowledge, and contains some valuable 
suggestions. As with all the reformers, religious in- 
struction is made prominent. " Although it is not in 
human power," he says, " to bring the heart of man to 
believe in God, even with an eloquence greater than 
that of Pericles ; and, although our heavenly Father 
alone, who draws us to himseK, can accomplish that 
work, yet faith, as Paul teaches, comes by hearing, 
namely, the hearing of the Word of God. Therefore, 
we must seek to instill faith in youth by the clearest and 
commonest words from the mouth of God, at the same 
time praying that He who alone begets faith would en- 
lighten him whom we instruct. It also seems to me not 
discordant with the teaching of Christ, if we lead the 
young through visible things to the knowledge of God, 
placing before their eyes the beauties of the whole 
world, and showing them under the mutations of Nature 
the immutable Being who holds the manifold world in 
such admirable order. Then we may lead them to see 
that it is not possible for Him, who has so wisely and 
beautifully ordered all things, to neglect the work of his 



154 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

hands, since even among men we blame the father who 
does not watch over and provide for his household. 
Tlius will the young understand that the providence of 
God is over all things, and orders all things without 
growing weary. If the human spirit has once been 
properly instructed in this way, it can never fall into 
undue anxiety or hurtful lusts ; for it then knows that 
all things are to be obtained from God, and that it would 
be an offense to desire from him anything unworthy." 



4. Abstract Theological Education {1550-1700). 

After the lleformation, the stream of history broad- 
ens and deepens. Yarious influences, often in conflict 
with one another, control the course of events. During 
the period extending from the middle of the sixteenth 
to the beginning of the eighteenth century, three lead- 
ing tendencies are apparent in education. These may 
be characterized as the theological, the humanistic, and 
the practical. As the theological tendency, however, 
maintained an ascendency over the others in the schools, 
it is allowed to give name to the period. The human- 
istic tendency, which was not very marked, was an echo 
from the revival of learning. The practical tendency 
was a reaction against the sterile learning cultivated by 
theology and humanism. 

The period under discussion was one of extraordi- 
nary theological activity. A large share of the intel- 
lectual strength of the age was turned to theology. 
Every phase of religious truth, particularly in its doc- 
trinal and speculative aspects, was brought under inves- 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. I55 

tigation. Theology was elevated into a science, and 
doctrinal systems were developed with logical precision, 
and extended to trifling subtilties. " Theology was 
most fully developed," says Kurtz, in speaking of the 
seventeenth centmy, " and reared like a mighty Gothic 
dome with astonishing acuteness, harmonious in its mi- 
nutest parts, and firmly knit together as a whole. But 
the tendency to an extremely subtile development and 
precise definition of doctrines, which sprang from the 
controversies of the preceding century, became continu- 
ally more one-sided. Hence, it called into existence a 
dialectic scholasticism, which was in no way inferior to 
that of the most iiourishing period of the middle ages, 
either in the greatness or minuteness of the careful and 
acute development of its scientific form, or in the full 
and accurate exhibition of its religious contents." 

But this great effort to reduce the whole body of re- 
ligious truth to an infallible logical statement was at- 
tended with unfortunate results. Theologians became 
bigoted and intolerant. In their efforts to give Christian 
doctrine a scientific form, they lost its spirit. Losing its 
earlier freedom and life. Protestantism degenerated in 
large measure into what has been called " dead ortho- 
doxy." The intellectual apprehension of elaborate creeds 
was made the basis of Christian fellowship. Christian 
life counted for little, and the Protestant world broke 
up into opposing factions. Says Kurtz, who is disposed 
to apologize for this period as far as possible : " Like 
mediaeval scholasticism, in its concern for logic theology 
almost lost vitality. Orthodoxy degenerated into ortho- 
doxism ; externally, not only discerning essential diver- 
sities, but disregarding the broad basis of a common 



156 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

faith, and running into odious and unrestrained contro- 
versy ; internally, holding to the form of pure doctrine, 
but neglecting cordially to embrace it, and to Kve con- 
sistently with it." 

The schools, which stand in close relation to relig- 
ion, were naturally influenced in a large measure by the 
theological tendencies of the age. Theological interests 
imposed upon the schools a narrow range of subjects, a 
mechanical method of instruction, and a cruel discipline. 
The principle of authority, exacting a blind submission 
of the pupil, prevailed in the schools of every grade. 
The young were regarded, not as tender plants to be 
carefully nurtured and developed, but as untamed ani- 
mals to be repressed and broken. "Education," says 
Dittes, " in the form that it had assumed in the sixteenth 
century, could not furnish a complete human culture. 
In the higher institutions, and even in the wretched 
town schools, Latin was the Moloch to which countless 
minds fell an offering in return for the blessing granted 
to a few. A dead knowledge of words took the place 
of a living knowledge of things. Latin school-books 
supplanted the book of Nature, the book of life, the 
book of mankind. And in the popular schools youth- 
ful minds were tortured over the spelling-book and cate- 
chism. The method of teaching was almost everywhere, 
in the primary as well as in the higher schools, a me- 
chanical and compulsory drill in unintelligible formulas ; 
the pupils were obliged to learn, but they were not edu- 
cated to see and hear, to think and prove, and were not 
led to a true independence and personal perfection ; the 
teachers found their function in teaching the prescribed 
text, not in harmoniously developing the young human 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. I57 

being according to the laws of Nature — a process, more- 
over, that lay under the ban of ecclesiastical orthodoxy. 
The discipKne answered to the content and spirit of the 
instruction; it was hai'sli, and even barbarous; the prin- 
ciple was to tame the pupils, not to educate them. Thej 
were to hold themselves motionless, that the school ex- 
ercises might not be disturbed ; what took place in their 
minds, and how their several characters were consti- 
tuted, the school pedants did not understand and ap- 
preciate." 

This is the darker side of the theological influence. 
In other particulars, it was favorable to the cause of edu- 
cation. It led to a multiplication of schools of various 
grades. Country schools, town schools, Latin schools, or 
gymnasia, and universities, sprang up in Protestant 
countries imder the reHgious impulse, and in Catholic 
countries through a spirit of rivalry with their oppo- 
nents. The country or village schools were connected 
with the local church, and were usually taught by the 
sexton, or some other subordinate officer. The subjects 
of instruction were originally the catechism and singing, 
but to these were subsequently added reading, writing, 
and arithmetic. The schools were designed for both 
boys and girls, who were instructed sometimes together, 
and sometimes separately. The following order of the 
Elector of Brandenburg, issued in 1573, shows us the 
primitive form of these schools : " Every Sunday after- 
noon, or, with the approval of the pastor, once during 
the week, the village sextons shall read to the people, 
but especially to the children and young servants, the 
Small Catechism of Luther, without change, and teach 
them to pray ; also, they shall question them according 



158 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

to convenience as to what they have learned. Likewise, 
before and after the reading and repeating of the cate- 
chism, they shall sing and teach the young people good, 
Christian, German psalms ; and, where there are chapels, 
they shall conduct these exercises alternately in the 
chapels and in the parent churches, in order that the 
youth in all the villages may be instructed according to 
their need, and not be neglected." 

"With the town schools it was somewhat better. The 
range of instruction was of a higher order ; the theo- 
logical influence was felt in a less degree ; the needs of 
practical life were better kept in view. But these 
schools were still very far from being models. They 
did not emancipate themselves from the mechanical 
methods and cmel discipline then in vogue, and the 
teachers, as a rule, were unfit for their vocation. " The 
majority of them," says Dittes, "were people who on 
account of bodily infirmity or mental incapacity, often 
also on account of laziness or dissoluteness, had suffered 
shipwreck in hfe, and had now taken to teaching as a 
last resort, particularly unsuccessful artisans, students, 
and deposed clergymen." Everywhere the teachers were 
poorly paid. Their salaries consisted in part of eggs and 
butter, and to maintain a livelihood they were forced to 
engage in other pursuits. " They played the violin at 
dances, kept beer-gardens, carried on in a small way 
some kind of trade, or in summer hired out as day- 
laborers. The school ordinances of the time contain 
sharp clauses in reference to the scandalous lives of the 
teachers, as well as against their rough discipline, and 
admouish them to fidelity in duty and to becoming con- 
duct in and out of school. But this was mostly in vain ; 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 159 

for, where fitness is wanting among teachers, ordinances 
are of but little utility." 

In the Latin schools humanism asserted itself by the 
side of theology. As indicated by the name, Latin 
formed the chief subject of study. The leading repre- 
sentatives of the humanistic tendency in the second half 
of the sixteenth century were Trotzendorf, Michael I^e- 
ander, and John Sturm. They were all influenced by 
Melanchthon, with whom they maintained more or less 
intimate relations. As directors of celebrated schools, 
they exerted a strong influence upon the higher educa- 
tion of their time. Trotzendorf taught at Goldberg, 
Neander at Hfeld, and Sturai at Strasburg. As Sturm 
represented most completely the humanistic tendency 
of his age, it is worth while to consider liis educational 
work in some detail. 

(a.) JOHN STTJEM. 

John Sturm was bom at Schleiden, Prussia, in 1507 ; 
he died at Strasburg in 1589. After teaching at Lou- 
vain and Paris, he was appointed rector of the gym- 
nasium at Strasburg, over which he presided for forty 
years. He boasted of his institution that it reproduced 
the best periods of Athens and Rome ; and, in fact, he 
succeeded in giving to his adopted city the name of New 
Athens. In religion he was a Calvinist, and he is justly 
regarded as the greatest educator that the Reformed 
Church produced during this period. 

" His ideal of education," says Raumer, " we have 
already learned — piety, knowledge, and eloquence. He 
clearly knew what he wished, and with equal clearness 
he adopted means to its attainment. . . . The man was 



160 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

of one piece, a whole man — a man of character, in whom 
strength of will was admirably united with force and 
tact in execution. Hence, it is not to be wondered at 
that Sturm found recognition among his cotemporaries, 
and enjoyed their highest confidence. In 1578 the 
Strasburg school numbered several thousand pupils, 
among them about two hundred of noble birth, twenty- 
four counts and barons, and three princes. ]S^ot simply 
from Germany, but from the most different countries, 
from Portugal and Poland, Denmark, France, and Eng- 
land, youths were sent to Sturm. But his pedagogical 
activity was not hmited to the Strasburg Gymnasium ; 
in wide circles he exerted by counsel and example, and 
through his pupils, a very great influence as a second 
Preceptor OermanicEP 

The course of study at the Strasburg Gymnasium was 
divided into ten classes. As this institution became a 
model for many other classical schools, it is well to pre- 
sent briefly the work of each class. We thus gain a 
clear insight into the Latin schools of this period, and 
are prepared to appreciate both their excellence and 
their defects : 

Tenth Class. — The alphabet, reading, writing. Latin 
declensions and conjugations. The German or Latin 
catechism. 

Ninth Class. — Latin declensions and conjugations 
continued. Memorizing of Latin words used in common 
hfe. Irregularities of formation were introduced. 

Eighth Class. — Continuation of words in common 
use. The parts of speech. Declension and conjugation 
in connection with sentences. Composition of Latin 
phrases. Some letters of Cicero were read and ex- 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 161 

plained. Toward tlie close of the year, exercises in 
style. 

Seventh Class. — Latin syntax, with a few rules and 
examples from Cicero. Rules to be constantly applied 
in reading Cicero's letters. Exercises in composition. 
On Sunday, translation of German catechism into classic 
Latin, in which, however, such terms as Trinitas^ sacra- 
mentuTn, and haptismus might be employed. 

Sixth Class. — Review. Translation of Cicero's let- 
ters into German. Translation of Latin poetry. On 
Saturday and Sunday, translation of catechism, and read- 
ing of some letters of Jerome. Greek begun. 

Fifth Class. — Study of words designating things 
unknown to the pupils. Yersification. Mythology. 
Cicero, and Yirgil's Eclogues. Greek vocabulary. Ex- 
ercises in style and Latin versification. Translation of 
oratorical extracts into German, and afterward back 
into Latin. On Saturday and Sunday, one of Paul's 
epistles. 

Fourth Class. — Well acquainted with Latin and 
Greek grammar, the pupils were required to read a great 
deal, to learn by heart, and to explain. The sixth ora- 
tion against Yerres was read, because it contains almost 
all kinds of narration. Epistles of Horace. Greek 
grammar continued, wdth reading. Exercises in style. 
Reviews. Reading and paraphrasing some of Paul's 
epistles. 

Third Class. — Reviews. Rhetoric. Oration pi'O 
Cluentio. Select orations of Demosthenes. The Lliad 
or Odyssey. Paul's epistles. Exercises in style. Trans- 
lation of oratorical extracts from Greek into Latin, and 
from Latin into Greek. Composition of poetry and let- 



162 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

ters. Representation of the comedies of Plautus and 
Terence in the four higher classes. All the plays of 
these authors to be acted. 

Second Class. — The pupils explained, under the direc- 
tion of the teacher, the Greek orators and poets. Pe- 
culiarities of oratorical and poetical language. Remark- 
able passages copied. Dialectic and rhetoric studied in 
connection with orations of Cicero and Demosthenes. 
Exercises in style. Oratorical composition and declama- 
tion. Memorizing and recitation of the Epistle to the 
Romans. Representation of the comedies of Terence 
and Plautus, and some drama of Aristophanes, Euripi- 
des, and Sophocles. 

First Class. — Dialectic and rhetoric continued. Yir- 
gil, Horace, Homer. Translation of Thucydides and 
Sallust. Weekly dramatic entertainments. All ^vritten 
composition to be artistic. Reading and explanation of 
Paul's epistles. 

This course has the merit of being well fitted together, 
and of harmoniously tending to the desired end. It is 
carefully graded throughout, each class furnishing a defi- 
nite preparation for the succeeding one. Yet it has ob- 
vious and serious defects. It is too narrow in its scope. 
An unjustifiable prominence is given to Latin and 
Greek, while many other important studies are wholly 
neglected. History, mathematics, natm-al science, and 
the mother-tongue are ignored. A great gap is left be- 
tween the gymnasium and life — a gap that could not be 
filled even by the university. In aiming to reproduce 
Greece and Rome in the midst of modern Christian 
civilization, Sturm's scheme involves a vast anachronism. 

" And what a strange mistake," exclaims Paroz, " to 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 163 

wish to confine the scientific culture of a nation in tlie 
forms of a foreign language ! In order to succeed, it 
would have been necessary at the start to overcome the 
resistance of a young, vigorous, popular, national lan- 
guage. But such a result was neither possible nor de- 
sirable. The future belonged to the mother-tongue; 
and true modern culture, the culture suited to modern 
needs and to the genius of the people, was not found in 
the Latin gymnasia of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries — it lay germinally in the religious work of the 
period ; that is, in the translation of the Bible, in hymns, 
sermons, and catechisms, and in those poor popular 
schools in which the mother-tongue was spoken. We 
are astonished to-day that Sturm did not make the Ger- 
man language a branch of instruction, and that he even 
despised French and German, although he somewhere 
acknowledges that Luther and Philippe de Comines 
have written as well as the most celebrated of the 
ancients." 

Sturm's influence extended to England, and thence 
to America. Says a recent English writer : " No one 
who is acquainted with the education given at our prin- 
cipal classical schools, Eton, Winchester, and Westmin- 
ster, forty years ago, can fail to see that their curriculum 
was framed in a great degree on Sturm's model. Dur- 
ing our o^vn generation the subjects of school-teaching 
have been largely multiplied, and we can afford to look 
down on the humanistic scheme as narrow and incom- 
plete ; but it had at least this merit, that it was a well- 
considered plan, harmonious in its arrangement, with its 
parts well fitting into one another. The master of each 
class knew precisely what the boys confided to him were 



164 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

expected to learn. Wheii they proceeded to the uni- 
versity, the preliminary instruction which they took 
with them had been well defined." 

(b.) the univeesities. 

The universities were affected most, perhaps, by the 
theological influences of the period. These institutions 
were estabhshed in considerable numbers for the promul- 
gation of particular types of theology. The universities 
estabhshed between 1550 and 1700, with their ecclesias- 
tical relations, are as follows : Strasburg, Lutheran, 
1621 ; Geneva, Reformed, 1558 ; Jena, Lutheran, 1557 
Dillingen, Cathohc, 1554; Helmstadt, Lutheran, 1576 
Altorf, Lutheran, 1575 ; Herbom, Reformed, 1654 
Gratz, Catholic, 1586 ; Paderborn, Cathohc, 1592 ; Gies- 
sen, Lutheran, 1607; Rinteln, Lutheran, 1619; Salz- 
burg, Cathohc, 1622 ; Miinster, Cathohc, 1631 ; Osna- 
briick, Catholic, 1632 ; Bamberg, Catholic, 1648 ; Duis- 
burg, Reformed, 1655 ; Kiel, Lutheran, 1665 ; Inns- 
pruck. Catholic, 1670 ; Halle, Lutheran, 1694. Of these, 
Helmstadt, Altorf, Rinteln, and Duisburg were subse- 
quently dissolved. 

No important changes were made in the organization 
of the universities. The course of instruction, which 
continued in the hands of the four faculties of philoso- 
phy, theology, law, and medicine, remained narrow. 
History and the modem tongues were entirely neglect- 
ed ; mathematics received but little attention ; physics^ 
astronomy, and natural history — the only natural sciences 
recognized — were taught out of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and 
Phny; and medicine out of Hippocrates and Galen. 
Even Greek was accorded only an inferior position. In 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 165 

tlie universities, as in the gymnasia, Latin was tlie chief 
subject of study. "Thus was the circle of studies," 
says Raumer, " at the schools as at the universities ex- 
tremely restricted, as compared with the range of sub- 
jects in our time. It is clear, as I have repeatedly re- 
marked, that all the time and strength of the youth were 
forcibly concentrated upon the learning and exercising 
of Latin. Grammar was studied for years in order to 
learn to sjDeak and write Latin correctly; dialectic, in 
order to use it logically ; and rhetoric, in order to handle 
it oratorically. FaciKty was sought by means of debate, 
declamation, and representations of Terence. The clas- 
sics were read in order to collect words and phrases 
from them for speaking and writing, without particular 
concern for the thought." 

The state of morals at the universities of the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries was very low. Idle- 
ness, drunkenness, disorder, and Hcentiousness prevailed 
in an unparalleled degree. The practice of hazing was 
universal, and new students were subjected to shocking 
indignities. The following graphic description, con- 
tained in a rescript of Duke Albrecht of Saxony to the 
University of Jena in 1624, would apply equally well to 
any other university of the time : " Customs before un- 
heard of," he says, " inexcusable, unreasonable, and 
wholly barbarian, have come into existence. When any 
person, either of high or low rank, goes to any of our 
universities for the sake of pursuing his studies, he is 
called by the insulting names of pennal, fox, tape-worm, 
and the like, and treated as such ; and insulted, abused, 
derided, and hooted at, until, against his will, and to the 
great injury and damage of himself and his parents, he 



166 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

has prepared, given, and paid for a stately and expensive 
entertainment. And at this there happen, without any 
fear of God or man, innumerable disorders and excesses, 
blasphemies, breaking up of stoves, doors, and windows, 
throwing about of books and drinking-vessels, looseness 
of words and actions, and in eating and drinking, dan- 
gerous wounds, and other ill deeds ; shames, scandals, 
and all manner of vicious and godless actions, even 
sometimes extending to murder or fatal injuries. And 
these doings are frequently not confined to one such 
feast, but are continued for days together at meals, at 
lectures, privately and publicly, even in the public streets, 
by all manner of misdemeanors in sitting, standing, or 
going, such as outrageous howls, breaking into houses 
and windows, and the like ; so that by such immoral, 
wild, and vicious courses, not only do our universities 
perceptibly lose in good reputation, but many parents in 
distant places either determine not to send their children 
at all to this university — founded with such great ex- 
pense by our honored ancestors, now resting in peace 
with God, and thus far maintained by ourselves — or to 
take them away again," 

The custom of hazing was broken up in Germany 
about 1660, after which time the moral condition of the 
universities showed a marked improvement. 

(c.) THE JESUITS. 

Within the Catholic Church education was promoted 
chiefly by the Jesuits. This order, established by Ig- 
natius Loyola, found its special mission in combating 
the Reformation. As the most effective means of arrest- 
ing the progress of Protestantism, it aimed at controUing 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 167 

education, particularly among the wealthy and the noble. 
In rivalry with the schools of Protestant countries, it 
developed an immense educational activity, and earned 
for its schools a great reputation. They were praised 
and patronized even by Protestants. Bacon says : " Take 
example by the schools of the Jesuits, for better do not 
exist. When I look at the diligence and activity of the 
Jesuits, both in imparting knowledge and in molding 
the heart, I bethink me of the exclamation of Agesilaus 
concerning Pharnabazas: 'Since thou art so noble, I 
would thou wert on our side ! ' " 

The organization was perhaps the most compact that 
has ever existed. Only men of marked abihty were ad- 
mitted to it, and on entering they gave up their person- 
ality in complete consecration to the interests of the 
order. The will of the general was supreme, and from 
his headquarters in E.ome he could direct the movements 
of the society with absolute precision and certainty. A 
more formidable foe has never faced Protestantism. The 
following are some of the principles of the organization, 
as given by Pascal : 1. The end sanctifies the means. 
2. Mental reservations are allowable in making prom- 
ises and in taking oaths. 3. Philosophically, every 
transgression against a divine commandment is sin — 
theologically, only such violations as are perpetrated 
with full consciousness of the wrong, and a set pur- 
pose to break God's law. 

From the time of its organization the Jesuit so- 
ciety worked with indomitable energy. Its principles 
and methods were covered up by an attractive religious 
zeal. Not only Catholic but also a portion of Prot- 
estant Europe aided its growth, and in the course of a 



168 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

few years the order arrived at immense power. More 
than any other agency it stayed the progress of the 
Reformation, and it even succeeded in winning back 
territory already conquered by Protestantism. Although 
employing the pulpit and the confessional, it worked 
chiefly through its schools, of which it established and 
controlled large numbers. Education in all Catholic 
countries gradually passed into its hands. In ITIO the 
order had no less than six hundred and twelve colleges, 
one hundred and fifty-seven normal schools, twenty-four 
universities, and two hundred missions. These institu- 
tions had a large patronage. In 1675 the College of 
Clermont numbered three thousand students. " The 
Jesuits," says James Freeman Clarke, " spread over Eu- 
rope in a few years, taking possession of the pulpits, the 
schools, and the confessionals. They were most accom- 
plished and popular preachers, and filled anew the de- 
serted churches. They supplanted other priests in the 
care of consciences, and their schools were filled with 
the children of all classes, for they taught not only gra- 
tuitously but well." 

But the order could not continue in its course of 
brilliant success. In spite of the ability, zeal, and seK- 
sacritice of its members, it excited oi^position by its 
ambitious schemes and increasing power. After having 
been banished from nearly every country of Europe, the 
order was finally abolished by Pope Clement XIY., in 
1Y73. Though since revived and possessed of former 
energy and zeal, it is not so powerful. 

"With this rapid sketch before us, we can study the 
Jesuit system of education with greater interest and 
profit. This system, based on a draft prepared by 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 1^9 

Loyola himself, was elaborately set forth in a " plan of 
studies" prepared in 1588; and, though it underwent 
some slight modification in 1832 to accommodate it, in 
some degree, to modern needs, it has remained without 
essential change. "Whatever its defects as a system of gen- 
eral education, it was admirably suited to Jesuit purposes, 
and in some particulars it embodied valuable principles. 
Every member of the order became a competent and 
practical teacher. He received a thorough course in the 
ancient classics, philosophy, and theology. During the 
progress of his later studies he was required to teach. 
In the Jesuit schools there was a lower and a higher 
course of instruction. The lower course, which closely 
corresponds to Sturm's, occupied six years, the classes 
being arranged as follows : 

1. Eudiments of Latin grammar. 

2. Middle grammar class. 

3. Latin syntax. 

4. The humanities. 

5. Ehetoric (two years). 

Arithmetic, history, and natural science occupied a 
very subordinate place. As the language of the Roman 
Church, Latin was the principal subject of study. Great 
thoroughness was aimed at. " A knowledge of syntax," 
says the " plan of studies," above referred to, " is not the 
end of grammar ; pupils ought to learn Latin as a living 
language; they ought to be able to read, speak, and 
write it." Ancient hterature was esteemed, not for its 
thought, but for its style. "The study of classic au- 
thors," says the " plan," " can have for us only a second- 
ary end, namely, to form the style; we wish nothing 
more. Style will be formed essentially after Cicero. 

8 



170 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

Pupils, both in speaking and in writing, will make use 
of classic phrases." Greek was cultivated with success. 

The Jesuits were hostile to the mother-tongue ; and, 
distmsting the influence of its associations, they assidu- 
ously endeavored to supplant it. Says the " plan of 
studies " : " All use of the mother-tongue should be for- 
bidden. Those who make use of it ought to bear a mark 
of humiliation, to which a light punishment also should 
be added, unless the pupil succeed the same day in 
throwing the double load upon a comrade whom he has 
detected, in school or upon the street, committing the 
same fault." 

The religious element of education was strongly 
emphasized. This is shown by the following extract : 
"Religion," says the "plan of studies," "ought to be 
the base and summit, the center and soul of all study, 
of all education. It is necessary first of all that the 
young man make progress in the knowledge of his Cre- 
ator and of his Saviour, and that he increase in morality 
as he develops in intelligence. The teacher should serve 
as example to his pupils; he will fear to give them 
offense, and will pray for them. He will recommend 
them with great confidence to the Holy Virgin and to 
the patron saints of youth, to Saint Joseph, Saint Cath- 
erine, etc. That humility will be cultivated which seeks, 
not the glory of the world, but of God. "What touches 
on vice will be held vile and bad. The will of every 
one will identify itself with the will of the superior,* 
which is to be respected and followed as the will of 
Christ. The teacher will see to it that the pupils read, 
recite, and offer mentally certain prayers. . . . The 

* The general of the order. 



ABSTRACT THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 171 

pupil that neglects his religious duties wiU be punished; 
he will be compelled to pass some time in prayer, or on 
festival days to attend a second mass. Pupils that dis- 
tinguish themselves by their devotion should be pubhely 
praised." 

The studies were few in number, and carefully ad- 
justed to the pupil's ability. In all cases short lessons 
and thorough work was the rule. The memory was at- 
tentively cultivated ; and, to this end, reviews were 
made at the close of each week, month, and term. To 
gain influence with the higher classes, from which they 
desired to draw their chief patronage, the Jesuits cul- 
tivated elegant manners, and encouraged physical train- 
ing by means of gymnastics. A strict watch, which 
often assumed the form of hateful espionage, was kept 
over the pupil. Corporal punishment, resorted to only 
in extreme cases, was administered, not by a member of 
the order, but by a corrector kept for that purpose. 
The " plan of studies " explains this precaution : " Pu- 
pils," it says, "that in view of their age or exterior 
appear weak, insignificant, and perhaps contemptible, 
will soon be youths and men, who may attain to po- 
sition, fortune, or power, so that it is possible we may 
be obhged to seek their favor, or to depend upon their 
will ; this is why it is important to consider well the 
manner of treating and punishing them." 

The Jesuits made much of emulation, and in their 
eager desire to promote it they adopted means that could 
not fail to excite jealousy and envy. Says the "plan of 
studies " : " He who knows how to excite emulation has 
found the most powerful auxiliary in his teaching. Let 
the teacher, then, highly appreciate this valuable aid, 



172 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

and let him study to make the wisest use of it. Emu- 
lation awakens and develops all the powers of man. In 
order to maintain emulation, it will be necessary that 
each pupil have a rival to control his conduct and criti- 
cise him ; also magistrates, quaestors, censors, and de- 
curions should be appointed among the students. Noth- 
ing will be held more honorable than to outstrip a fellow- 
student, and nothing more dishonorable than to be out- 
stripped. Prizes will be distributed to the best pupils 
with the greatest possible solemnity. Out of school the 
place of honor will everywhere be given to the most 
distinguished pupils." 

The higher course of instruction usually extended 
through six years. Two years were devoted to philoso- 
phy, including psychology, logic, ethics, and mathemat- 
ics. Aristotle furnished the leading text-books. Four 
years were given to theology, including holy Scripture, 
Hebrew, and the writings of the scholastics. 

It only remains to sum up in a word the results of 
this investigation. The Jesuit system of education, 
based not upon a study of man, but upon the interests 
of the order, was necessarily narrow. It sought showy 
results with which to dazzle the world. A well-rounded 
development was nothing. The principle of authority, 
suppressing all freedom and independence of thought, 
prevailed from beginning to end. Religious pride and 
intolerance were fostered. While our baser feelings were 
highly stimulated, the nobler side of our nature was whol- 
ly neglected. Love of country, fidelity to friends, noble- 
ness of character, enthusiasm for beautiful ideals, were 
insidiously suppressed. For the rest, we adopt the lan- 
guage of Quick : " The Jesuits did not aim at developing 



REACTION. 173 

all the faculties of their pupils, but merely the receptive 
and reproductive faculties. When the young man had 
acquired a thorough mastery of the Latin language for 
all purposes ; when he was well versed in the theological 
and philosophical opinions of his preceptors ; when he 
was skillful in dispute, and could make a brilliant dis- 
play from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had 
reached the highest points to which the Jesuits sought 
to lead him. Originality and independence of mind, 
love of truth for its own sake, the power of reflecting, 
and of forming correct judgments, were not merely 
neglected, they were suppressed in the Jesuits' system. 
But in what they attempted they were eminently suc- 
cessful, and their success went a long way toward secur- 
ing their popularity." 

5. Reaction against Abstract Theological 
Education. 

Hitherto we have considered the darker aspects of 
the seventeenth century, but there is a brighter side 
which is now to claim our attention. By the side of 
narrow theological and humanistic tendencies, there was 
developed a liberal progressive spirit, in which lay the 
hope of the future. It freed itself from traditional 
opinions, and pushed its investigations everywhere in 
search of new truth. In England Bacon set forth his 
inductive method, by which he gave an immense im- 
pulse to the study of Nature ; in France Descartes laid 
a solid foundation for intellectual science ; and in Ger- 
many Leibnitz " quickly reached the bound and farthest 
limit of human wisdom, to overleap that line and push 



174 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

onward into regions liitherto unexplored, and dwell 
among yet undiscovered truths." Great progress was 
made in the natural sciences. Gahleo invented the tele- 
scope, and discovered the moons of Jupiter. Newton 
discovered the law of gravitation, and explained the 
theory of colors. Harvey found out the circulation of 
the blood. Torricelli invented the barometer, Guericke 
the air-pump, Napier logarithms. Pascal ascertained 
that the air has weight, and Roemer measured the ve- 
locity of light. Kepler announced the laws of planetary 
motion. Louis XIY. estabhshed the French Academy 
of Sciences, and Charles II. the Royal Society of Eng- 
land. 

The progress in literature was no less marked. Upon 
two European nations the golden age of letters shed its 
luster. In England, Bacon, Shakespeare, and Milton 
wrote ; in Erance, ComeiUe, Moliere, and Racine. " No 
other country," says Macaulay, " could produce a tragic 
poet equal to Racine, a comic poet equal to Moliere, a 
trifler so ao-reeable as La Fontaine, a rhetorician so skill- 
ful as Bossuet. Besides these, who were easily first, 
there were Pascal, whose ' Provincial Letters ' created a 
standard for French prose; Fenelon, whose 'Telemachus' 
stiU retains its wonderful populanty ; Boileau, who has 
been styled the Horace of France ; Madame de Sevigne, 
whose graceful letters are models of epistolary style ; 
and Massillon, who pronounced over the grave of Louis 
XIY. a eulogy ending with the sublime words, 'God 
alone is great ! ' " 

All over Europe the human mind, gradually coming 
to a sense of its native dignity and power, was emanci- 
pating itself from traditional and ecclesiastical authority. 



REACTION. 175 

Reason was asserting its rights. In the presence of this 
independent and investigating spirit, the imperfections 
of the existing education — its one-sidedness, its narrow 
and unpractical course of study, its unworthy aims, its 
mechanical methods and cruel discipline — could not 
escape attention. Prophetic voices were raised against 
it, its leading defects were noted, and many of the prin- 
ciples and methods now employed in our best schools 
were given to the world. Says Karl Schmidt : " Books, 
words, had been the subjects of instruction during the 
period of abstract theological education. The knowl- 
edge of things was wanting. Instead of the things 
themselves, words about the things were taught — and 
these, taken from the books of the ' ancients ' about stars, 
the forces of Mature, stones, plants, animals — astronomy 
without observations, anatomy without dissection of the 
human body, physics without experiments, etc. Then 
appeared in the most different countries of Europe an 
intellectual league of men who made it their work to 
turn away from dead words to living nature, and from 
mechanical to organic instruction. They were indeed 
only preachers in the wilderness, but they were the pio- 
neers of a new age." These now come before us. 

(a.) MONTAIGNE. 

Montaigne, a celebrated writer of France, was bom 
in 1533. Great care was taken with his education. At 
an early age he was intrusted to a German tutor who 
did not understand French, and who employed Latin in 
communicating with his pupil. As a result, he was able 
at the age of six years to speak Latin. At thirteen he 
completed his studies at the College of Guienne, at Bor- 



176 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

deaux, and subsequently studied law. At twenty lie was 
elected a member of the Parliament of Bordeaux, and 
was afterward chosen mayor of the city. JBut possessed 
of ample means, and having no political ambition, he 
withdrew to his estate to live in philosophic retirement. 
It was here that he produced his celebrated " Essays " — 
tracts on all sorts of subjects caught up apparently by 
chance, and written in an easy colloquial style. 

In his essays, which abound in unpretentious wis- 
dom, Montaigne repeatedly touches on education. His 
views, which are far in advance of his age, exhibit a 
strong reactionary tendency. He points out with sin- 
gular clearness and force many of the defects of the pre- 
vailing education. He grasped the true idea of educa- 
tion. " It is not a soul," he says, " it is not a body that 
we are training up, but a man, and we ought not to di- 
vide him."y 

In reference to the study of languages, he says : 
" Fine speaking is a very good and commendable qual- 
ity, but not so excellent or so necessary as some would 
make it ; and I am scandalized that our whole life should 
be spent in nothing else. I would first understand my 
own language, and that of my neighbor with whom most 
of my business and conversation lies. ]^o doubt Greek 
and Latin are very great ornaments, and of very great 
use ; but we may buy them too dear.'/ 

He does not set a high estimate upon the knowledge 
which the student acquires under the humanistic scheme. 
"Do but observe him," he says, "when he comes back 
from school, after fifteen or sixteen years that he has 
been there, there is nothing so awkward and maladroit, 
so unfit for company or employment ; and all that you 



REACTION. 177 

shall find he has got is, that his Latin and Greek have 
only made him a greater and more conceited coxcomb 
than when he went from home. He should bring his 
soul replete with good literature, and he brings it only 
swelled and pufied up with vain and empty shreds and 
snatches of learning, and has really nothing more in him 
than he had before." 

Montaigne strongly inveighs against the mechanical 
methods in vogue. " It is the custom of schoolmasters," 
he says, " to be eternally thundering in their pupils' ears 
as if they were pouring into a funnel, while the pupils' 
business is only to repeat what their masters have said. 
ITow, I would have a tutor correct this error, and that at 
the very first ; he should, according to the capacity he has 
to deal with, put it to the test, permitting his pupil him- 
self to taste and relish things, and of himself to choose 
and discern them, the tutor sometimes opening the way 
to him, and sometimes making him break the ice him- 
self ; that is, I would not have the tutor alone to invent 
and speak, but that he should also hear his pupils speak." 

Of the cramming process then current, particularly 
among the Jesuits, Montaigne says : " Too much learn- 
ing stifles the soul, just as plants ar&^tifled by too much 
moisture, and lamps by too much oil. Our pedants 
plunder knowledge from books and carry it on the tip 
of their Hps, just as birds carry seeds to feed their young. 
The care and expense our parents are at in our education 
point at nothing but to furnish our heads with knowl- 
edge ; but not a word of judgment or virtue. We toil 
and labor only to stuff the memory, but leave the con- 
science and understanding unfurnished and void." 

In reference to discipline, Montaigne says : " Educa- 



178 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

tion ouglit to be carried on with a severe sweetness quite 
contrary to the practice of our pedants, who, instead of 
tempting and alluring children to letters by apt and 
gentle ways, do in truth present nothing before them 
but rods and ferules, horror and cruelty. Away with 
this violence ! away with this compulsion ! than which I 
certainly believe nothing more dulls and degenerates a 
well-descended nature. If you would have him appre- 
hend shame and chastisement, do not harden him to 
them." 

Interesting and valuable extracts might be indefi- 
nitely multiplied, but one more, relating to the chief 
subject of study, must suffice. " This great world," says 
Montaigne, "is the mirror wherein we are to behold 
ourselves, to be able to know ourselves as we ought to 
do. In short, I would have this to be the book my 
young gentleman should study with the most attention ; 
for so many humors, so many sects, so many judgments, 
opinions, laws, and customs, teach us to judge right of 
our own, and inform our understandings to discover 
their imperfection and natural infirmity, which is no 
trivial speculation. So many mutations of states and 
kingdoms, and so many turns and revolutions of public 
fortune, will make us wise enough to make no gi'eat 
wonder of our own. So many great names, so many 
famous victories and conquests drowned and swallowed 
in oblivion, render our hopes ridiculous of eternizing 
our names by the taking of half a score of light-horse, 
or a paltry turret, which only derives its memory from 
its min. The pride and arrogance of so many foreign 
pomps and ceremonies, the tumorous majesty of so many 
courts and grandeurs, accustom and fortify our sight 



REACTION. 179 

without astonishment to behold and endure the luster of 
our own. So many milhons of men buried before us, 
encourage us not to fear to go seek so good company in 
the other world." 

(b.) bacon. 

Francis Bacon, who has done more perhaps for the 
advancement of knowledge than any other man of mod- 
em times, was born in London in 1550. He was of 
dehcate constitution, but endued with remarkable intel- 
lectual power. From childhood he manifested a philo- 
sophical turn of mind, and it is related of him that he 
stole away from his playmates to indulge his thought 
and spirit of investigation. Queen Elizabeth, dehghted 
with his youthful precocity, playfully called him her 
young Lord Keeper, At thirteen he was matriculated 
at the University of Cambridge, and it was not long till 
his keen penetration detected the faults belonging to 
the higher education of the time. lie found himself, 
to use his own language, " amid men of sharp and strong 
wits, and abundance of leisure, and small variety of 
reading, their wits being shut up in the cells of a few 
authors, chiefly Aristotle, their dictator, as their persons 
were shut up in the cells of monasteries and colleges ; 
and who, knowing httle history, either of nature or time, 
did, out of no great quantity of matter, and infinite agi- 
tation of wit, spin cobwebs of learning, admirable for 
the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or 
profit." 

He remained at the imiversity three years. After 
spending some time in Paris, where he made the ac- 
quaintance of many distinguished persons, he returned 



180 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME, 

to England, and devoted liimseK to the study of law, in 
which he speedily made profound attainments. Owing 
to the opposition of his uncle, Cecil, who held the po- 
sition of prime minister, he was kept for a time from 
any post of prominence and emolument. In 1590 he 
was made counsel-extraordinary to the queen — a po- 
sition of more honor than profit. Two years later he 
entered Parliament as member from Middlesex. His 
legal and political functions did not wholly absorb the 
energies of his mind, and in 1597 he published a volume 
of " Essays," which alone would have sufficed to give 
him an honorable place in English literature. 

After the accession of James I., in 1603, Bacon rose 
rapidly in position and honor. That year he was ele- 
vated to the order of knighthood, and in the following 
year he was appointed salaried counsel to the king — a 
mark of favor almost without precedent. In 1613 he 
was advanced to the office of attorney-general. In 1617 
he was created Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Eng- 
land — a dignity of which he was proud. The following 
year he was made Lord High Chancellor, the summit of 
his ambition and political elevation. 

In these positions. Bacon's conduct was not above 
reproach. He truckled to the king ; he was guilty of 
gross ingratitude to Essex, one of his greatest benefac- 
tors; and, worst of all, he was convicted on his own 
confession of accepting bribes. He was condemned to 
pay an enormous fine, and to be confined in the Tower 
daring the royal pleasure ; but these penalties, after he 
was imprisoned two days, were remitted by the king, 
who was not free himseK from implication in the crimes 
of his chancellor. The rest of Bacon's days were spent 



REACTION. 181 

in poverty, disgrace, and repentance. He died in 1626, 
about five years after his fall. 

The numerous works of Bacon, written in the leisure 
moments snatched from official duties, established his 
reputation throughout Europe as the leading English 
philosopher. He has repeatedly touched upon education 
in liis writings, and everywhere with the hand of a mas- 
ter. He holds a prominent place in the line of educa- 
tional reformers. "This significance," says Raumer, 
" Bacon receives as the first to say to the learned men 
who lived and toiled in the languages and writings of 
antiquity, and who were mostly only echoes of the old 
Greeks and Romans, yea, who knew nothing better than 
to be such : ' There is also a present ; only open your 
eyes to recognize its splendor. Turn away from the 
shallow springs of traditional natural science, and draw 
from the unfathomable and ever freshly flowing fountain 
of creation. Live in Nature with active senses ; ponder 
it in your thoughts, and learn to comprehend it, for thus 
you will be able also to control it. Power increases with 
knowledge.' " 

Bacon's first great philosophical work, published in 
1605, was the " Advancement of Learning." It was the 
aim of this work to take a complete survey of the field 
of knowledge, for the purpose of indicating what depart- 
ments of learning had received due attention, and what 
subjects yet needed cultivation. To use his own words : 
" I have made, as it were, a small globe of the intellectual 
world, as truly and faithfully as I could discover ; with 
a note and description of those parts w^hich seem to me 
not constantly occupate, or not well converted by the 
labor of man." 



182 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME, 

In this work lie was naturally led to treat of various 
aspects of education. He regarded it as a defect in the 
universities of the time that they were devoted to pro- 
fessional studies rather than to general learning. A lib- 
eral culture is insisted on as the basis of a professional 
career. " If men judge," he says, " that learning should 
be referred to action, they judge well ; but in this they 
f aU into the error described in the ancient fable, in which 
the other parts of the body did suppose the stomach had 
been idle, because it neither performed the office of mo- 
tion, as the limbs do, nor of sense, as the head doth ; but 
yet, notwithstanding, it is the stomach that digesteth 
and distributeth to all the rest : so, if any man think 
philosophy and universality to be idle studies, he doth 
not consider that all j^rofessions are from thence served 
and supplied. And this I take to be a great cause that 
hath hindered the progression of learning, because these 
fundamental knowledges have been studied but in pas- 
sage. For, if you will have a tree bear more fruit than 
it hath used to do, it is not anything you can do to the 
boughs, but it is the stirring of the earth and putting 
new mould about the roots that must work it." 

Bacon held learning to be conducive to religious 
faith. " It is an assured truth," he says, " and a conclu- 
sion of experience, that a little or superficial knowledge 
of philosophy may incline the mind of man to atheism, 
but a further proceeding therein doth bring the mind 
back again to religion ; for, in the entrance of philosophy, 
when the second causes, which are next unto the senses, 
do offer themselves unto the mind of man, if it dwell 
and stay there, it may induce some oblivion of the high- 
est cause ; but when a man passeth on farther, and seeth 



REACTION. 183 

the dependence of causes and tlie works of Providence, 
then, according to the allegory of the poets, he will easily 
beheve that the highest link of Nature's chain must 
needs be tied to the foot of Jupiter's chair." 

Learning should inure to the good of mankind. 
" Men have entered into a desire of learning and knowl- 
edge," Bacon says, " sometimes upon a natural curiosity 
and inquisitive appetite, sometimes to entertain their 
minds mth variety and delight, sometimes for ornament 
and reputation, and sometimes to enable them to victory 
of wit and contradiction — and, most times, for lucre and 
profession ; and seldom sincerely to give a true account 
of their gift of reason, to the henefit and use of man : as 
if there were sought in knowledge a couch, whereupon 
to rest a searching and restless spirit, or a terrace for a 
wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with 
a fair prospect ; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to 
raise itseK upon ; or a fort or commanding ground, for 
strife and contention ; or a shop, for profit or sale ; and 
not a rich storehouse, for the glory of the Creator and 
the relief of TTian^ s estateP 

Bacon censured a priori or speculative philosophy 
which seeks to deduce all truth from the inner resources 
of the mind. " The wit and mind of man," he says, " if 
it work upon matter, which is the* contemplation of the 
creatures of God, worketh according to the stuff, and is 
limited thereby ; but, if it work upon itself, as the spider 
worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth in- 
deed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of 
thread and work, but of no substance or profit." 

While not indiiierent to graces of style, Bacon criti- 
cised the excessive humanistic tendency of his time. 



184: FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

He regarded this tendency as operative in bringing 
learning into discredit. " How is it possible," he asks, 
" but this should have an operation to discredit learning, 
even with vulgar capacities, when they see learned 
men's works like the first letter of a patent or hmned 
book, which, though it hath large flourishes, yet it is 
but a letter ? It seems to me that Pygmalion's frenzy 
is a good emblem or portraiture of this vanity, for words 
are but the images of matter ; and, except they have life 
of reason and invention, to fall in love with tliem is all 
one as to fall in love with a picture." * 

The Novum Organum, part of a vast, unfinished 
work called the Instauratio Magna, was pubhshed in 
1620, and contains the principles of the Baconian or in- 
ductive philosophy. It is written in the form of apho- 
risms, the first of which are here given as indicating the 
character of the whole work : 

" I. Man, the minister and interpreter of Kature, can 
act and understand in as far as he has, either in fact or 
in thought, observed the order of Nature ; more he can 
neither know nor do. 

" II. The real cause and root of almost aU the evils in 
science is this, that, falsely magnifying and extolling 
the powers of the mind, we seek not its real helps. 

"III. There are two ways of searching after and 
discovering truth : the one, from sense and particulars, 
rises directly to the most general axioms, and resting 
upon these principles, and their unshaken truth, finds 
out intermediate axioms, and this is the method in use ; 
but the other raises axioms from sense and particulars 

* Pygmalion, a sculptor of the island of Cyprus, cherished a settled 
aversion to women, but fell in love with an ivory statue. 



REACTION. 185 

hy a continued and gradual ascent^ till at last it arrives 
at the most general axioms, wliich is the true way, but 
hitherto untried." 

Investigation, experiment, verification, these are char- 
acteristic features of the Baconian philosophy. It urges 
men to quit barren, transcendental speculation for fruit- 
bearing research in I^ature. It is intensely practical ; 
it has made Bacon the father of experimental philoso- 
phy ; it has been potent in turning modern thought into 
new channels, and has contributed largely to the scien- 
tific and material progress of the present. Bacon's sig- 
nificance in philosophy, and, it might be added, also in 
education, has been admirably stated by Lewes : " It was 
Bacon's constant endeavor, as it has been the cause of 
his enduring fame, to teach men the real object of sci- 
ence, and the scope of their faculties, and to furnish 
them with a proper method whereon these faculties 
might be successfully employed. He thus not only 
stands out clearly in history as the exponent of the long- 
agitated antagonism to all the ancient and scholastic 
thinkers, but also as the exponent of the rapidly increas- 
ing tendency toward positive science. He is essentially 
modem. All his predecessors, even in their boldest at- 
tacks upon ancient philosophy, were themselves closely 
allied to the spirit of that which they opposed. Kamus 
is the child of Aristotle, though he raised his hand 
against his father ; but Bacon was modem in culture, in 
object, and in method." 

His thoroughly modem spirit is shown in the fol- 
lowing remarkable passage, the truth of which, after a 
lapse of two hundred and fifty years, is rapidly gaining 
recognition, and changing the character of our educa- 



186 FKOM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

tion : " The opinion," lie sajs, " whieli men cherish of 
antiquity is altogether idle, and scarcely accords with 
the term. For the old and increasing years of the world 
should in reahty be considered antiquity, and this is 
rather the character of our own times than of the less 
advanced age of the world in those of the ancients. For 
the latter, with respect to ourselves, are ancient and 
elder ; with respect to the world, modern and younger. 
And, as we expect a greater knowledge of human affairs 
and more mature judgment from an old man than from 
a youth, on account of his experience, and the variety 
and number of things he has seen, heard, and meditated 
upon, so we have reason to expect much greater things 
of our own age (if it knew but its strength and would 
essay and exert it) than from antiquity, since the world 
has grown older, and its stock has been increased and 
accumulated with an infinite number of experiments 
and observations. We must also take into our consider- 
ation that many objects in Nature fit to throw light 
upon philosophy have been exposed to our view and 
discovered by means of long voyages and travels, in 
which our times have abounded. It would, indeed, be 
dishonorable to mankind if the regions of the material 
globe, the earth, the sea, and stars, should be so pro- 
digiously developed and illustrated in our age, and yet 
the boundaries of the intellectual globe should be con- 
fined to the narrow discoveries of the ancients." This 
extract is one of the aphorisms of the Novum Organum. 
We must content ourselves with but one more pas- 
sage, though Bacon's works are a rich mine of educa- 
tional wisdom. It is a criticism upon the principle of 
authority which reigned in the schools of the time, to 



REACTION. 187 

the repression of free and fruitful inquiry. "In the 
universities," he says, " all things are found opposite to 
the advancement of the sciences ; for the readings and 
exercises are here so managed that it can not easily come 
into any one's mind to think of things out of the com- 
mon road : or if, here and there, one should venture to 
use a liberty of judging, he can only impose the task 
upon himself without obtaining assistance from his fel- 
lows ; and, if he could dispense with this, he will still 
find his industry and resolution a great hindrance to his 
fortune. For the studies of men in such places are 
confined, and pinned down to the writings of certain 
authors ; from which, if any man happens to differ, he 
is presently reprehended as a disturber and innovator." 

Bacon had an unswerving faith in the power of 
truth, and he confidently looked forward to a time when 
his philosophical and educational reforms, replete with 
blessings to the world, would be approved and adopted. 
The following prediction, whose fulfillment has estab- 
lished the character and mission of the prophet, is sub- 
lime : " I have held up a light in the obscurity of phi- 
losophy," he says, " which will be seen centuries after I 
am dead. It will be seen amid the erection of temples, 
tombs, palaces, theatres, bridges, making noble roads, 
cutting canals, granting multitude of charters and liber- 
ties for comfort of decayed companies and corporations ; 
the foundation of colleges and lectures for learning and 
the education of youth ; foundations and institutions of 
orders and fraternities for nobility, enterprise, and obe- 
dience ; but, above all, the establishing good laws for 
the regulation of the kingdom, and as an example to the 
world." 



188 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
(C.) MILTON. 

Jolm Milton, the sublimest poet of all times, was bom 
in London, in 1608. The highly eulogistic lines of Dry- 
den hardly surpass the tnith : 

Three poets, in three distant ages born, 
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. 
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed ; 
The next in majesty ; in both the last. 
The force of Nature could no further go : 
To make a third, she joined the other two. 

His father, as Milton hiraseK tells us, was a man of 
the highest integrity, and his mother a woman of most 
virtuous character, especially distinguished for her neigh- 
borhood charities. After a good preliminary training, 
Milton was sent to Cambridge, where he made diligent 
use of his time. In the following interesting passage, 
he tells us something of his studies, and the dawning 
consciousness of his greatness : " I must say that, after I 
had, for my first years, by the ceaseless diligence and 
care of my father (whom God recompense !), been exer- 
cised to the tongues, and some science as my age would 
suffer, by sundry masters and teachers, both at home and 
at the schools, it was found that, whether aught was im- 
posed on me by them that had the overlooking, or be- 
taken to of mine own choice, in English, or other tongue, 
prosing or versing, but chiefly the latter, the style, by 
certain vital signs it had, was likely to live. But, much 
latelier, in the private academies of Italy, whither I was 
favored to resort, perceiving that some trifles which I 
had composed at twenty, or thereabout, . . . met with 
acceptance above what was looked for ; and other things, 



REACTION. 189 

wMcli I had shifted (in scarcity of books and con- 
veniences) to patch up among them, were received with 
written encomiums, which the Itahan is not forward to 
bestow on men on this side of the Alps — I began thus 
to assent both to them, and divers of my friends at 
home, and not less to an inward prompting, which now 
grew daily upon me, that, by labor and intense study 
(which I take to be my portion in this life), I might, 
perhaps, leave something so written to after-times as they 
should not -willingly let die." 

In one of his controversial tracts, replying to certain 
calumniations, he depicts his personal habits as follows : 
" Those morning haunts are where they should be — at 
home ; not sleeping or concocting the surfeits of an ir- 
regular feast, but up and stirring in winter, often ere the 
sound of any bell awakens men to labor or devotion ; in 
summer, as oft with the bird that first rouses, or not 
much tardier, to read good authors, or cause them to be 
read, till the attention be weary, or the memory have its 
full fraught. Then, with useful and generous labors, 
preserving the body's health and hardiness, to render 
lightsome, clear, and not lumpish obedience to the mind, 
to the cause of religion and our country's liberty, when 
it shall require firm hearts in sound bodies, to stand and 
cover their stations, rather than see the ruin of our Prot- 
estantism, and the enforcement of a slavish life." 

It would carry us beyond our limits to follow the 
career of Milton through the troublous times of the 
Commonwealth, and the dangers and sufferings of the 
Restoration; to speak of his embittered controversies 
and domestic trials ; and to portray him, old and blind, 
in the elaboration of "Paradise Lost," the cherished 



190 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

thought of a lifetime. Of this last period, in a poem 
on his own blindness, he has spoken in words of won- 
derful power and beauty : 

I am old and blind — 
Men point at me as smitten by God's frown, 
Afflicted and deserted of my kind, 

Yet I am not cast down. 

I am weak, yet strong ; 
I murmur not that I no longer see ; 
Poor, old, and helpless, I the more belong, 

Father Supreme ! to thee. 

Oh ! I seem to stand 
Trembling, where foot of mortal ne'er hath been, 
Wrapped in the radiance of thy sinless land, 

Which eye hath never seen. 

Yisions come and go ; 
Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng ; 
From angel hps I seem to hear the "flow 

Of soft and holy song. 



Milton belongs to the educational reformers. In a 
letter to Samuel Hartlib, he has presented his views 
upon education in a brief but comprehensive form ; or, 
to use his own language, he has " set down in writing 
. . . that voluntary idea, which hath long in silence 
presented itself to me, of a better education, in extent 
and comprehension far more large, and yet of time far 
shorter and of attainment far more certain, than hath 
been yet in practice." 

His definition of a liberal education is contained in 
the following sentence : " I call, therefore, a complete 



REACTION. 191 

and generous education that which fits a man to perform 
justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices both 
private and pubHc, of peace and war." 

" The end, then, of learning is," he says, " to repair 
the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God 
aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imi- 
tate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by pos- 
sessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to 
the heavenly grace of faith, makes up the highest per- 
fection. But because our understanding can not in this 
body found itseK but on sensible things, nor arrive so 
clearly to the knowledge of God and things invisible, as 
by orderly conning over the visible and inferior creat- 
ure, the same method is necessarily to be followed in 
all discreet teaching. And seeing every nation affords 
not experience and tradition enough for all kinds of 
learning, therefore we are chiefly taught the languages 
of those people who have at any time been most in- 
dustrious after wisdom ; so that language is but the in- 
strument convepng to us things useful to be known. 
And though a linguist should pride himself to have all 
the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, yet if he 
have not studied the solid things in them, as well as the 
words and lexicons, he were nothing so much to be 
esteemed a learned man as any yeoman or tradesman 
competently wise in his mother dialect only." In the 
latter part of this admirable passage, Milton emphasizes 
substantial learning as contrasted with the current, well- 
nigh empty study of words, which he elsewhere charac- 
terizes as " pure t riflin g at grammar and sophistry." 

In the same connection, he protests against the im- 
position of tasks beyond the strength and years of the 



192 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

pupil. " We do amiss," lie says, " to spend seven or eight 
years merely in scra-ping together so much miserable 
Latin and Greek as might be learned otherwise easily 
and delightfully in one year. And that which casts our 
proficiency therein so much behind is our time lost partly 
in too oft idle vacancies given both to schools and uni- 
versities ; partly in a preposterous exaction, forcing the 
empty wits of cliildren to compose themes, verses, and 
orations, which are the acts of ripest judgment, and the 
final work of a head tiUed by long reading and observ- 
ing with elegant maxims and copious invention. These 
are not matters to be wrung from poor striplings, like 
blood out of the nose, or the plucking of untimely fruit ; 
besides all the ill habit which they get of wretched bar- 
barizing against the Latin and Greek idiom, with their 
untutored Anglicisms, odious to be read, yet not to be 
avoided without a well-continued and judicious convers- 
ing among pure authors, digested, which they scarce 
taste." 

In the following extract Milton arraigns the meth- 
ods and studies pursued at the universities, and shows 
the unsatisfactory results for the cause of learning and 
the duties of active life : " And for the usual method of 
teaching arts, I deem it to be an old error of universi- 
ties, not yet well recovered from the scholastic grossness 
of barbarous ages, that, instead of beginning with arts 
most easy (and those be such as are most obvious to the 
sense), they present their young, unmatriculated nov- 
ices, at first coming with the most intellective abstrac- 
tions of logic and metaphysics ; so that they having but 
newly left those grammatic fiats and shallows, where 
they stuck unreasonably long to learn a few words with 



REACTION. 193 

lamentable construction, and now on tlie sudden trans- 
ported under anotlier climate, to be tossed and turmoiled 
with their unballasted wits in fathomless and unquiet 
deeps of controversy, do for the most part grow into ha- 
tred and contempt of learning, mocked and deluded all 
this while with ragged notions and babblements, while 
thej expected worthy and delightful knowledge ; till 
poverty or youthful years call them importunely their 
several ways, and hasten them, with the sway of friends, 
either to an ambitious and mercenary, or ignorantly 
zealous divinity: some allured to the trade of law, 
grounding their purposes not on the prudent and heav- 
enly contemplation of justice and equity, which was 
never taught them, but on the promising and pleasing 
thoughts of litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing 
fees ; others betake them to state affairs, with souls so 
unprincipled in virtue and true generous breeding, that 
flattery, and court-shifts, and tyrannous aphorisms, ap- 
pear to them the highest points of wisdom — instilling 
their barren hearts with a conscientious slavery, if, as I 
rather think, it be not feigned ; others, lastly, of a more 
delicious and airy spirit, retire themselves, knowing no 
better, to the enjoyments of ease and luxury, living out 
their days in feast and jollity, which indeed is the wisest 
and safest course of all these, unless they were with 
more integrity undertaken. And these are the errors, 
and these are the fruits of mis-spending our prime 
youth at the schools and universities, as we do, either in 
learning mere words, or such things chiefly as were bet- 
ter unlearnt y 

Having thus pointed out the errors common in the 
schools, Milton continues in the following beautiful and 



194 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

oft-quoted passage : " I shall detain you no longer in 
the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight 
conduct you to a hill-side, where I will point you out 
the right path of a virtuous and noble education ; labo- 
rious, indeed, at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so 
green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds 
on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more 
charming." 

We will not follow Milton through the vast scheme 
of studies which he proposed — a scheme that included 
nearly the whole range of Hterature and science. " His 
proposals indeed," says Quick, "Hke everything con- 
nected with him, are of heroic mold. The reader, 
especially if he be a schoolmaster, gasps for breath at 
the mere enumeration of the subjects to be learned and 
the books to be read." Milton himself was conscious of 
the vastness of his plan, and he concludes his " Tractate " 
to Mr. Hartlib with the remark, " I believe that this is 
not a bow for every man to shoot in that counts himself 
a teacher, but will require sinews almost equal to those 
which Homer gave Ulysses." 

(d.) eatich. 

Ratich was not, like Montaigne, Bacon, and Milton, 
simply an enlightened critic; he was also a practical 
educator, and sought to remedy existing evils by the 
actual introduction of reforms. Though he erred in 
the application of liis principles, and his efforts resulted 
in failure, yet he has the honor of having made sub- 
stantial contributions to the permanent stock of peda- 
gogic truth. He laid the foundations well, but failed in 
rearing the superstructure. 



REACTION. 195 

Wolfgang Raticli was born at Wilster, in Holstein, 
1571. He received his classical training at the Ham- 
burg Gymnasium, and afterward studied theology and 
philosophy at the University of Rostock. Compelled 
to give up his purpose of becoming a preacher on ac- 
count of some impediment of speech, he devoted him- 
self to the study of Hebrew, Arabic, and mathematics. 
He spent eight years at Amsterdam, where he elaborated 
his educational views, and offered his method to Prince 
Maurice, of Orange. The prince wished to restrict him 
to the teaching of Latin, but, unwilling to accept this 
condition, the enthusiastic reformer carried his secret to 
Basel and Strasburg, as well as to several courts, in 
search of a patron. In 1612 he addressed a memorial 
to the Electoral Diet, at Frankfort, in which he prom- 
ised, with divine help, to show — 1. How young and old 
might acquire, in short time, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and 
other languages. 2. How a school, not only in High 
Gennan, but also in other languages, might be estab- 
lished, in which all the arts and sciences might be 
taught. 3. How in the whole country a uniform lan- 
guage, government, and religion might be easily intro- 
duced and peaceably maintained. At the same time 
he attacked the current education, and insisted that the 
young should learn to read, write, and speak their 
mother-tongue correctly, before beginning the study of 
other languages. 

The pretensions of this memorial were by no means 
modest, but it attracted so much attention that a com- 
mission of learned men was appointed to investigate 
Ratich's claims. His views were reported on favorably. 
Helvicus, a celebrated German scholar of the time, ex- 



196 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

pressed himself in strong terms. " We are," he sajs, 
in his report, " in bondage to Latin. The Greeks and 
Saracens would never have done so much for posterity 
if they had spent their youth in acquiring a foreign 
tongue. We must study our own language, and then 
the sciences. Ratich has discovered the art of teaching 
according to nature. By this method languages will be 
quickly learned, so that we shall have time for science ; 
and science will be learned even better still, as the nat- 
ural system suits best with science, which is the study of 
Nature." 

Finally, after repeated failures, Ratich succeeded in 
getting Prince Ludwig, of Anhalt-Kothen, interested in 
his scheme, and in 1619 received at the hands of the 
prince every facility for opening a model school ; in re- 
turn for which he made extravagant promises. A print- 
ing-house, provided with type in six- different languages, 
was opened for the publication of text-books ; and a 
number of teachers were set apart to receive a special 
drill in the new methods. It was given out that He- 
brew, Greek, and Latin would be learned in less than 
half the time required in other parts of Germany, and 
besides with much less trouble. 

The inhabitants of Kothen responded readily to the 
appeal for pupils, and a school was opened with two 
hundred and thirty-one boys and two hundred and two 
girls. It was divided into six grades. In the three 
lowest only the mother-tongue was to be used ; in the 
fourth Latin was taken up, and in the sixth Greek. 
Besides language, arithmetic, singing, and religion were 
taught. The teacher of the lowest grade was to be an 
affable man, who, as stated in the plan, should " form 



REACTION. 197 

the speech of these young pupils by daily prayer, short 
biblical proverbs, and easy conversations ; and correct by 
constant practice the faults acquired out of school." 

In teaching the mother-tongue, Ratich began with 
the letters of the alphabet, which he regarded as the 
simplest element of grammar. As he drew each letter 
slowly on the blackboard, he directed attention to its 
form and name ; and, in order to deepen the impression, 
he compared its shape with other objects (as o with a 
ring), and required the pupil to make it himself. The 
next step was in forming syllables and words, which 
were likewise to be written and pronounced. The tran- 
sition to reading was made without delay, and in a novel 
manner. The teacher took some easy and interesting 
book like Genesis, and read it through before the class, 
going over each chapter twice, and requiring the pupils 
to follow with eye and finger. Then, turning again to 
the beginning, he read over the first chapter; after 
which the pupils were permitted to read, each one pro- 
nouncing four lines. Reading having been learned in 
this way, the study of grammar was begun. The teacher 
first read and explained some section of the grammar, 
for example, that treating of nouns ; then the pupils 
read the same one or more times ; after which they took 
up the book previously used in reading, and with the 
aid of the teacher pointed out the substantives. In this 
way all the principles of grammar were exemplified. 

In Latin, as in the mother-tongue, grammar followed 
reading. Terence was the favorite author for beginners. 
A translation of some one of his plays was first placed 
in the pupil's hands. " The master then," to use Quick's 
convenient condensation of the tedious German account, 



198 FROM THE KEFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

"translated the play to them, each half-hour's work 
twice over. At the next reading the master translated 
the first half-horn*, and the boys translated the same 
piece the second. Having thus got through the play, 
they began again, and only the boys translated. After 
this there was a course of grammar, which was applied 
to the Terence, as the grammar of the mother-tongue 
had been to Genesis. Finally, the pupils were put 
through a course of exercises, in which they had to turn 
into Latin sentences imitated from the Terence, and 
differing from the original only in the number or per- 
son used." 

The school at Kothen did not have the success that 
these methods would seem to assure ; on the contrary, it 
turned out a complete failure. Several external causes 
concurred in bringing this about. Ratich displeased his 
patrons, who were all Calvinistic, by his uncompromis- 
ing Lutheranism ; he offended his colleagues and sup- 
porters by his arrogance, and he provoked unfriendly 
criticism. His school was soon in disorder. And, hav- 
ing fallen into a quarrel Math the prince, he was thrown 
into prison, from which he obtained his release only 
upon signing a declaration that " he had claimed and 
promised more than he knew or could bring to pass." 

After his failure and humiliation at Kothen, Ratich 
endeavored for many years to estabhsh his system else- 
where ; but, during the commotions of the Thirty Years' 
War, he was able to accomphsh but little. His theories, 
however, are not to be judged by his failure as a teacher. 
Many of his educational principles are excellent ; and, 
though he failed in the attempt to apply them, they 
have survived, and enter into the education of the 



REACTION. 199 

present. His cliief educational maxims are tlie fol- 
lowing : 

1. Everything after the order or course of nature. 
All teaching that is forced, violent, or contrary to na- 
ture, is harmful. 

2. Teach only one thing at a time. There is nothing 
that hinders the understanding more than the attempt 
to learn many things at once. 

3. Often repeat the same thing. It thus sinks deeply 
into the understanding. 

4r. Everything first in the mother-tongue. The pu- 
pil's attention is thus fixed only upon what he has to 
learn, and not upon the medium through which he 
learns it. 

5. Everything without compulsion. Compulsion is 
against nature, and also renders studies hateful to the 
young. 

6. l^othing should be learned by rote. This is hurt- 
ful to the understanding. 

7. There should be uniformity in all things, in meth- 
ods of teaching, as well as in the form of text-books. 

8. First the thing itseK, then the manner of the 
thing. Rules without matter confuse the miderstanding. 

9. Teach everything by experiment and analysis. 
I^othing should be received on mere authority ; the rea- 
son and evidence should be examined and apprehended. 

These principles, though liable to abuse, are a valu- 
able contribution to pedagogy. They show the peda- 
gogical insight of Ratich, and establish his claim to an 
honorable place among educational reformers. The na- 
ture of his work has been thus summed up by Paroz : 
" Ratich, as we have just seen, is dissatisfied with the 



200 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

past, and commences in Germany tlie reaction against 
the defective system of study inaugurated and perfected 
by men like Luther, Trotzendorf, Sturm, and the Jesu- 
its — a system whose base, middle, and summit was 
Latin, a servile imitation of Cicero. His attempts were 
unskilKul, and his principles commonly exaggerated. 
It is not astonishing, therefore, that he succumbed in 
an undertaking above his strength, and when he had the 
age against him, instead of for him, as the men whom I 
have just named. Nevertheless, he has brought out, 
like Montaigne, a truth which no force will henceforth 
be able to overthrow, namely, that the old methods — if 
we may so call an empirical instruction based on memory 
and imitation — are defective, and that it has become 
necessary to reform our instniction by methods based 
on nature, and by the adoption of new subjects, such, 
for example, as the mother-tongue." 

(e.) comenius. 

The most celebrated educational reformer of the 
seventeenth century was John Amos Comenius. He 
was bom in Moravia, March 28, 1592. His family be- 
longed to that body of Protestants knoAvn as Moravian 
Brethren. Though few in number, this body has al- 
ways been distinguished for simplicity of faith, earnest 
piety, and missionary zeal. These characteristics were 
early developed in Comenius, and they imparted to his 
long life of labor and trial peculiar beauty. 

As with many other illustrious men, little is laiown 
of his early years. When quite young he lost his par- 
ents, and was brought up under the care of guardians. 
He received the limited instruction in reading, writing. 



REACTION. 201 

arithmetic, and the catechism imparted in the primary 
schools of the time. It was not till the age of sixteen 
that he began the study of Latin, then the staple of 
learning. " Yet, by the goodness of God," he says, 
" that taste bred such a thirst in me that I ceased not 
from that time, by all means and endeavors, to labor for 
the repairing of my lost years." 

It was, perhaps, a fortunate circumstance that he en- 
tered upon the study of Latin so late. He was better 
able to judge of the methods and discipline to which he 
had to conform. He recognized many of the prevalent 
errors, and busied his youthful fancy in devising im- 
provements. He thus portrays the schools of his time : 
" They are the terror of boys, and the slaughter-houses 
of minds — places where a hatred of literature and books 
is contracted, where ten or more years are spent in learn- 
ing what might be acquired in one, where what ought 
to be poured in gently is violently forced in and beaten 
in, where what ought to be put clearly and perspicu- 
ously is presented in a confused and intricate way, as if 
it were a collection of puzzles — places where minds are 
fed on words." 

Comenius completed his studies at the College of 
Herbom and the University of Heidelberg. In 1G16 
he was ordained to the ministry in the Moravian Church, 
and was placed over the congregation in Fulneck. 
Along with his pastoral duties, he had charge of a re- 
cently estabhshed school, and began to consider more 
fully the subject of education. Here he man*ied, and 
for two or three years he led an active and happy life — 
the only period of tranquillity he was ever to enjoy in 
his native country. The Thirty Tears' "War broke out. 



202 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

and made troublous times. In 1621 Fulneck was taken 
hj the Spaniards, and Comenius lost all his property. 
Instigated bj the Jesuits, the Austrian Government pro- 
scribed the evangelical pastors, and forced them to tly. 
Comenius took refuge for a time in his native moimt- 
ains, but, as the persecution waxed hotter, he fled to 
Lissa, in Poland. On crossing the border, he devoutly 
knelt and prayed God that the truth might not be 
quenched in his native land. 

At Lissa he found employment in the Moravian 
Gymnasium, of which he seems to have become rector. 
He applied himself with new ardor to his educational 
studies. He acquainted himself with the best educa- 
tional writings of the age, perusing among others the 
works of Ratich and Bacon. He was greatly impressed 
by them. " Yet," he says, " observing here and there 
some defects and gaps as it were, I could not restrain 
myself from attempting something that might rest upon 
an immovable foundation, and which, if it could be 
found out, should not be subject to any ruin. There- 
fore, after many workings and tossings of my thoughts, 
by reducing everything to the immovable law of Nature, 
I hghted upon my Didactica 3Iagna, which shows the 
art of readily and soHdly teaching all men all things." 
In this work, which was not published for several years, 
Comenius made a comprehensive and profound study of 
education, and announced those principles which were 
destined to transform the schools of all Christian lands. 

He next set about reforming the methods of teach- 
ing Latin. Too much time was given to words. " If 
so much time is to be spent on the language alone," he 
says, "when is the boy to know about things — when 



REACTION. 203 

will lie learn pliilosopliy, when religion, and so fortli ? 
He will consume his life in preparing for life." To 
remedy this evil, he prepared his " Gate of Tongues 
Unlocked" {Janua Linguarum Heserata), the charac- 
ter of which he fully sets forth in the following extract : 
" My fundamental principle — an irrefragable law of di- 
dactics — is that the understanding and the tongue should 
advance in parallel lines always. The human being 
tends to utter what he apprehends. If he does not ap- 
prehend the word he uses, he is a parrot ; if he appre- 
hends without words, he is a dumb statue. Accordingly, 
under one hundred heads, I have classified the whole 
universe of things in a manner suited to the capacity of 
boys, and I have given the corresponding language. I 
have selected from lexicons the words that had to be in- 
troduced, and I include eight thousand vocables in one 
thousand sentences, which are at first simple, and there- 
after gradually become complex. I have used words, as 
far as practicable, in their primary signification, accord- 
ing to the comprehension of the young, but have had to 
seek for modern Latin words where pure Latin was not 
to be had. I have used the same word only once, except 
where it had two meanings. Synonyms and contraries 
I have placed together, so that they may throw light 
upon one another. I have arranged the words so as to 
bring into view concords and governments and declen- 
sion." 

As this passage shows, the " Gate of Tongues " pos- 
sessed several great merits. It was suited to the pupil's 
capacity ; it carried him along by easy gradations ; and, 
above all, it taught him things in connection with words. 
Its success was instantaneous and immense. It was 



204 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

translated into Greek, Bohemian, Polish, German, Swed- 
ish, Belgian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Hanga- 
rian, Turkish, Arabic, and one of the languages of India. 

It is now time to speak of a scheme to which Co- 
menius long gave afEectionate thought and zealous labor. 
Its realization he believed for many years was to consti- 
tute his principal life-work. This scheme, suggested to 
him by Bacon, was the publication of a work that would 
embrace and fully exhibit the whole circle of knowl- 
edge. This vast undertaking, which Comenius believed 
would be very helpful to the advancement of science, 
was obviously beyond the powers of any one man. 
Hence his practical mind suggested the establishment 
of an institution, in which all departments of learning 
should be represented by the ablest scholars, and from 
which this encyclopsedia of laiowledge was to proceed. 

It was in relation to this great pansophic scheme 
that Comenius was invited by the English Parliament to 
London. He went there in 1641, and promising meas- 
ures were taken to open a " universal college." " But," 
as he tells us in his own account of the visit, " a rumor 
that Ireland was in a state of commotion, and that more 
than two hundred thousand of the English had been 
slaughtered there in one night, the sudden departure of 
the king from London, and the clear indications that a 
most cruel war was on the point of breaking out, threw 
all our plans into confusion, and compelled me and my 
friends to hasten our return." 

At this juncture Comenius was invited to Sweden. 
He was kindly received at Stockholm by the illustrious 
statesman, Oxenstiern, and Chancellor Skyte, of the Uni- 
versity of Upsala. His didactic and pansophic schemes 



REACTION. 205 

were fully discussed. " For four days," he says, " these 
two men held me in debate, but chiefly Oxenstiern, that 
eagle of the ISTorth, who questioned me as to my princi- 
ples, both pansophic and didactic, with a greater pene- 
tration and closeness than had been exhibited by any of 
the learned with whom I had come in contact. For the 
first three days didactic was the subject of his examina- 
tion, and he brought the interviews to an end with the 
following remarks : ' From youth up I have perceived 
a certain violence in the customary method of school 
studies, but I could never put my finger on the place 
where the shoe pinched. When sent by my king, of 
glorious memory,* as an embassador to Germany, I con- 
ferred with many learned men on the subject ; and when 
I was informed that Wolfgang Eatich had attempted a 
reform of method, I had no peace of mind till I had the 
man before me ; but he, instead of a conversation, pre- 
sented me with a huge book in quarto. I swallowed 
that annoyance, and, having run through the whole vol- 
ume, I saw that he had exposed the diseases of the 
schools not badly ; but, as for the remedies, they did not 
seem to me to be adequate. Your remedies rest on 
firmer foundations ; go on with your work.' " 

The pansophic plans of Comenius were not encour- 
aged by Oxenstiern ; and, as a result of this conference, 
he was induced to prepare a work in which his princi- 
ples should be carefully wrought out in reference to 
teaching languages. For this purpose, he took up his 
residence at Elbing, in Prussia, where he was supported 
by De Geer, a wealthy and uatelligent Dutchman. Here, 
after four years of labor, he produced his " Latest 

* Gustavus Adolphus. 



206 I'ROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

Method with Languages " {Methodus Linguarum No- 
vissimd). In this work he points ont tliree evils in the 
current teaching of Latin: 1. That words are taught 
without being understood ; 2. That bojs are introduced 
at once into the intricacies of grammar; and, 3. That 
they are required to make impossible leaps, being forced 
prematurely into works above their comprehension. In 
this connection, he laid down the important principles 
that words and things should be learned together ; that 
theory should not be dissevered from practice, and that 
study should advance by easy gradations. 

No sooner had Comenius accomplished the work as- 
signed him by his Swedish advisers, than he received a 
call to reform the schools of Transylvania, in Hungary. 
Accordingly, he went, in 1650, to the town of Patak, 
where he established a model school. This he designed, 
under the patronage of wealthy friends, to develop into 
a pansophic institution ; but it appears that he never or- 
ganized more than the lower classes. 

He remained at Patak four years, which were cliar- 
acterized by surprising literary activity. During this 
short period he produced no less than fifteen different 
works, among them his ""World Illustrated" {Orbis 
Pictus\ the most famous of all his writings. This work 
contained, as stated in the title-page, " the pictures and 
names of all the principal things in the world, and of all 
the principal occupations of man." It admirably applied 
the principle that words and things should be learned 
together. It contained not only a simple treatment of 
things in general, but also pictures to illustrate the sub- 
ject of each lesson. The philosophic basis of the work 
is presented by Comenius in the following extract: 



REACTION. 207 

" The foundation of all learning consists in representing 
clearly to the senses sensible objects, so that they can be 
apprehended easily. I maintain that this is the basis of 
all other actions, inasmuch as we could neither act nor 
speak wisely unless we comprehended clearly what we 
wished to say or do. For it is certain that there is noth- 
ing in the understanding which has not been previously 
in the sense ; and consequently, to exercise the senses 
carefully in discriminating the differences of natural ob- 
jects, is to lay the foundation of all wisdom, all eloquence, 
and all good and prudent action." The " World Illus- 
trated " had an enormous circulation, and remained for 
a long time the most popular text-book in Europe. 

In 1654 Comenius returned to his former home at 
Lissa. Here one more misfortune awaited him before 
the close of his eventfid career. "When that town was 
plundered by the Poles, in 1656, Comenius lost his 
house, books, and, above all, his manuscripts, which em- 
bodied the labors of many years. " This loss," he said, 
" I shall cease to lament only when I cease to breathe." 
After several months' wandering in Germany, he was 
offered an asylum in Amsterdam by Laurence de Geer, 
the son of his former patron. Here, in comparative 
ease, he spent the remaining years of his life, devoting 
himseK to teaching as a means of support, and to the 
promulgation and defense of his educational views. 
Through the liberality of friends, he was enabled to 
publish a complete edition of his works. His last days 
were somewhat imbittered by envious attacks upon his 
character and methods, but in all his trials he exhibited 
a meek, forbearing, Christian spirit. He died in 1671, 
at the advanced age of eighty years. 



208 FKOM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

" Comenius," says Kaumer, "is a grand and venerable 
figure of sorrow. Wandering, persecuted, and home- 
less, during tlie terrible and desolating Thirty Years' 
War, he yet never despaired, but with enduring truth, 
and strong in faith, he labored unweariedly to prepare 
youth by a better education for a better future. Sus- 
pended from the ministry, as he himseK tells us, and an 
exile, he had become an apostle to the Christian youth ; 
and certainly he labored for them with a zeal and love 
worthy of the chief of the apostles." 

Such, in imperfect outline, was the life of this great 
man. But, in order to appreciate him fully, we must 
turn for a moment to the consideration of his educational 
principles. Unlike many of his predecessors, he did not 
confine himself to the enunciation of isolated principles. 
He sought first of all an immovable foundation, and on 
this he erected his system with close logical sequence. 
His reforms were as thorough as they were comprehen- 
sive. He conceived of education as a development of 
man in all his faculties ; he based all his methods on the 
order of nature; he regarded the perfect man as the 
end of all culture. " The right instruction of youth," 
he says, "does not consist in cramming them with a 
mass of words, phrases, sentences, and opinions collected 
from authors, but in unfolding the understanding that 
many little streams may flow therefrom as from a living 
fountain. Hitherto the schools have not labored that 
the children might unfold like the young tree from the 
impulse of its own roots, but have been contented when 
they covered themselves with foreign branches. Thus 
they have taught the youth, after the manner of -^sop's 
crow, to adorn themselves with strange feathers. Why 



REACTION. 209 

shall we not, instead of dead books, open the living book 
of Nature ? Not the shadows of things, but the things 
themselves, which make an impression on the senses and 
the imagination, are to be brought before youth. By 
actual observation, not by a verbal description of things, 
must instruction begin. From such observation devel- 
ops a certain knowledge. Men must be led as far as 
possible to draw their wisdom not from books, but from 
a consideration of heaven and earth, oaks and beeches ; 
that is, they must know and examine things themselves, 
and not simply be contented with the observations and 
testimony of others." This brief extract contains the 
two fundamental truths upon which all correct educa- 
tion must rest. 

The following principles, gleaned from the works of 
Comenius, will exhibit his greatness as an educational 
reformer, and also the extent to which the improved 
education of the present is indebted to him : 

1. Education is a development of the whole 
man. 

2. Educational methods should follow the order of 
Nature. 

3. Both sexes should receive equal instruction, since 
the end of education is individual development. 

4. Learning should be made agreeable. Teachers 
should always have something interesting and profitable 
to communicate to their classes. School-houses should 
be made comfortable and attractive. 

5. If the superstructure is not to totter, the founda- 
tion must be laid well. 

6. Many studies are to be avoided as dissipating the 
mental strength. 



210 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

T. There should be an easy gradation in studies, the 
one leading naturally to the other. 

8. Things naturally connected in themselves should 
be joined together in teaching. 

9. Nothing should be taught that is not of solid 
utility. 

10. Studies should be adapted to the capacity of the 
pupil. 

11. Nothing is to be learned by heart that is not 
first thoroughly understood. 

12. Let nothing that admits of sensible or rational 
demonstration be taught by authority. 

13. Let no task be assigned until the method of doing 
it has been explained. 

14. In the sciences the student should have the ob- 
jects studied before him. 

15. In languages the mother-tongue is to come first, 
next the languages of neighboring nations, then Latin as 
the language of the learned world. Theologians and 
physicians should study Greek. 

16. Languages are to be learned by practice rather 
than by rule. Rules should follow and confirm prac- 
tice. 

17. "Words should be learned in connection with 
things. The object first, then the expression. 

1 8. The concrete should precede the abstract ; the 
simple, the complex ; the nearer, the more remote. 

19. Things to be done should be learned by doing 
them. " Mechanics," Comenius says, " understand this 
well; they do not give the apprentice a lecture upon 
their trade, but they let him see how they as masters 
do ; then they place the tool in his hands, teach him to 



REACTION. 211 

use it, and imitate ttern. Doing can be learned only 
by doing, writing by writing, painting by painting, and 
so on." 

20. Religion is of supreme importance ; and, in ad- 
dition to religious instruction, the young should be ac- 
customed to the exercise of Christian virtues, such as 
temperance, justice, compassion, patience, and so on. 

21. Discipline should aim at improving the char- 
acter. 

22. The teacher should be an example, in person and 
conduct, of what he requires of his pupils. 

Of these principles, the first two are fundamental. 
ISTearly all of them were directly opposed to the practice 
of the seventeenth century ; many of them are now re- 
garded as axiomatic truths, and are rapidly reforming 
and elevating the schools of Christendom, They entitle 
Comenius to rank among the world's greatest educa- 
tional reformers. 

The school system proposed by Comenius is not un. 
worthy of mention. It embraced four grades of schools. 
The first was the domestic school, in which the child 
was to learn the use of its senses, acquire its native lan- 
guage, and gain a rudimentary knowledge of things in 
general. The next was the vernacular, or popular school. 
This the child attended from the age of six to twelve, 
and studied reading, writing, arithmetic, singing, the 
catechism, history, and geography. Then followed the 
Latin school, in which the young student devoted six 
years to grammar, physics, mathematics, ethics, logic, 
and rhetoric. Lastly, the university, as the home of all 
branches of learning, formed the natural completion of 
the system. 



212 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

"We close this sketch of the life and educational 
principles of Coraenius with an extract from his last 
work, written when he had attained the advanced age 
of seventy-seven. It shows ns the great, unselfish spirit 
that animated him in his labors, and sustained hun in 
his trials : " I thank my God," he says, " who has willed 
that I should be my hfe long a man of aspiration. For 
aspiration after the good, whatever may be its form in 
the heart, is a stream that flows from the source of all 
good — from God. I have said that I have undertaken 
all my labors for the Lord and his people from love ; I 
am not conscious of any other motive, and accursed be 
every hour and every moment that was otherwise em- 
ployed ! One of my chief concerns related to the im- 
provement of schools, which I undertook and continued 
many years from a desire to deliver the youth from the 
toilsome labyrinths in which they were entangled. Some 
regarded this foreign to the office of a minister, as if 
Christ had not bound together the two injunctions, 
' Feed my sheep ' and ' Feed my lambs,' and laid them 
upon the beloved Peter. To Christ, my eternal love, I 
give unending thanks that he has placed such affection 
to his lambs in my heart, and has given me, to some de- 
gree at least, his blessing. I hope and confidently ex- 
pect from my God that my reforms will spring into 
light, when the winter of the Church is past, the rains 
have ceased, and the flowers come forth in the land ; 
when God grants his flock shepherds after his own 
heart, who will feed not themselves but the flock of the 
Lord ; and when the envy that is directed against men 
while living will cease when they are dead." 



REACTION. 213 

(r.) LOCKE, 

John Locke was borne at "Wrington, near Bristol, in 
1632. His father served as captain in the Parliamentary 
army during the Civil "War. After receiving a prepara- 
tory training at Westminster School, he proceeded to 
Oxford, v(;^here he took his bachelor's degree in 1655. 
He was endowed with a penetrating and practical mind, 
and, like Bacon at Cambridge, he early found fault with 
Oxford on account of its extreme conservative tenden- 
cies. " That university," says Lewes, " was distinguished 
then, as it has ever been, by its attachment to whatever 
is old — the past is its model, the past has its affection. 
That there is much good in this veneration for the past, 
a few will gainsay. Nevertheless, a university which 
piqued itself on being behind the age, was scarcely a fit 
place for an original thinker. Locke was ill at ease 
there. The philosophy upheld there was scholasticism. 
On such food, a mind like his could not nourish itself. 
Like his great predecessor. Bacon, he imbibed a profound 
contempt for the university studies, and in after-life 
regretted that so much of his time should have been 
wasted on such profitless pursuits." 

After taking his degree Locke studied medicine, not 
with the view of becoming a practitioner, but of im- 
proving his feeble health. In this study he made note- 
worthy attainments, as is shown in the following en- 
comium, which is quoted more particularly for its refer- 
ence to his intellectual and moral character. Says Dr. 
Thomas Sydenham, in a work on medicine : " You know 
likewise how much my method has been approved of 
by a person who has examined it to the bottom, and 



214 FROM THE EEFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

who is our common friend — I mean Mr. John Locke — 
who, if we consider his genius, and penetrating and ex- 
act judgment, or the purity of his morals, has scai'ce any 
superior, and few equals, now living." 

After spending a year at the court of Berlin, as sec- 
retary to the English envoy. Sir William Swan, he re- 
turned to Oxford, where he then made the acquaintance 
of the Earl of Shaftesbury. By this nobleman, who ap- 
preciated his extraordinary ability, he was introduced 
into the society of the great, whom he attracted by his 
unusual colloquial powers. But, in all his associations 
with people of rank, he did not lose his independence 
of character. He even ventured on one occasion to ad- 
minister a delicate but effective rebuke. One day three 
or four lords engaged in a game of cards in his presence. 
After looking on for some time, he took out his note- 
book, and began to write attentively. Having been 
asked by one of the nobles what he was writing, he re- 
plied : " My lord, I am endeavoring to profit, as far as I 
am able, in your company ; for, having waited with im- 
patience for the honor of being in an assembly of the 
greatest geniuses of this age, and at last having obtained 
the good fortune, I thought I could not do better than 
write down your conversation ; and, indeed, I have set 
down the substance of what hath been said for this hour 
or two." The rebuke was taken in good part ; and, 
giving up their game, the lords entered into conversa- 
tion better suited to their character. 

Locke superintended the education of the Earl of 
Shaftesbury's son. Subsequently he was charged with 
the delicate task of choosing a wife for his pupil, and 
was fortunate enough to make a happy selection. The 



REACTION. 215 

education of the oldest son by this marriage, a boy of 
bright parts, was intrusted to Locke ; and, as in the case 
of the father, the result was highly gratifj^ing. His 
pupil afterward became an author of some reputation. 
In acting as tutor in the Earl of Shaftesbury's family, 
Locke had his acute understanding specifically directed 
to the subject of education, and it was in the observa- 
tions and experience of these years that he developed 
the independent views afterward embodied in his edu- 
cational treatise, presently to be noticed. 

Locke lived on terms of close intimacy with the Earl 
of Shaftesbury, and was appointed by him to an impor- 
tant government oflSce. This fact involved him in the 
political troubles of his generous patron ; and, when that 
nobleman was banished from England, Locke deemed it 
prudent to follow him. During his voluntary exile in 
Holland, Locke was unjustly accused of writing certain 
seditious tracts against the English Government; and, 
under this suspicion, he was deprived of his place as 
student of Christ-Church College, Oxford. His sur- 
render by the Government of Holland was demanded 
by the English envoy, but he escaped by conceal- 
ment. 

In 1688, with the accession of William and Mary, 
Locke found it safe to return to his native land. Here, 
the year following, he published his great philosophical 
work, " An Essay concerning Human Understanding," 
which was designed to establish the limitations and 
capabilities of the mind. It had a wide circulation not 
only in England, but also in France and Germany ; and 
everywhere it exerted an immense influence upon philo- 
sophic thought. 



216 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

In 1693 lie published a treatise entitled " Some 
Thoughts concerning Education." Two years later he 
received from King William the appointment of Com- 
missioner of Trade and Plantations ; but, after serving 
several years in this position, he was obhged by faihng 
health to resign, and to seek the fresh air of the country. 
He retired to Gates, in Essex, and spent the few remain- 
ing years of his hfe in peaceful retirement. He died 
in 1704. 

After a brief biographical sketch, Raumer says : 
" From this account of Locke's life, we are able to an- 
ticipate the nature of his pedagogical views. As a phy- 
sician, whose duty it was to keep an invalid pupil from 
dpng, he was obliged to pay especial attention to 
health ; as a man who held several pubhc offices, asso- 
ciated with the most distinguished statesmen, and edu- 
cated a statesman's son, he attached more importance 
to the practical side of education than to mere learning ; 
he could not avoid recognizing the principles of the no- 
bility, especially that of honor, hkewise their views of 
what belongs to an educated nobleman, and imbibing 
antipathy toward learned pedantry." 

" Locke is a thorough Englishman," says Karl 
Schmidt, "and the principle underlying his education 
is the principle according to which the EngHsh people 
have developed. Hence, his theory of educaition has in 
the history of pedagogy the same value that the English 
nation has in the history of the world. He stood in 
strong opposition to the scholastic education current in 
his time, a living protest against the prevailing ped- 
antry; in the universal development of pedagogy he 
gives impulse to the movement which grounds education 



REACTION. 217 

"opon sound psychological principles, and lays stress upon 
breeding and the formation of character." 

Locke begins his " Thoughts concerning Education " 
with these words : " A sound mind in a sound body is a 
short but full description of a happy state in this world ; 
he that has these two has httle more to wish for ; and, 
he that wants either of them, will be but little the better 
for anything else." The attainment of this happy con- 
dition is the end of education. 

According to Locke, education in its widest sense is 
the molding force of life. The early surroundings and 
impressions of childhood are of weighty consequence. 
" It is education," he says, " which makes the great dif- 
ference in mankind. The little, or almost insensible, 
impressions on our tender infancies, have very important 
and lasting consequences ; and then it is, as in the fount- 
ains of some rivers, where the gentle application of the 
hand turns the flexible waters into channels that make 
them take quite contrary courses ; and, by this little di- 
rection, given them at first, in the source, they receive 
different tendencies, and ai'rive at last at very remote 
and distant places," 

Locke did not set much store by mere bookish learn- 
ing. In his mind, the function of education was to form 
noble men well equipped for the duties of practical life. 
He says : " You will wonder, perhaps, that I put learn- 
ing last, especially if I tell you I think it the least part. 
. . . When I consider what ado is made about a little 
Latin and Greek, how many years are spent in it, and 
what a noise and business it makes to no purpose, I can 
hardly forbear thinking that the parents of children still 
live in fear of the schoolmaster's rod, which they look 

10 



218 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

on as the only instrument of education ; as if a language 
or two were its w^liole business. How else is it possible 
that a child should be chained to the oar seven, eight, 
or ten of the best years of his life, to get a language 
or two, which I think might be had at a great deal 
cheaper rate of pains and time, and be learned almost in 
playing ? . . . Reading and writing, and learning, I al- 
low to be necessary, but yet not the chief business. I 
imagine you would think him a very foolish fellow that 
should not value a virtuous, or a wise man, infinitely 
before a scholar. Not but that I think learning a great 
help to both, in well-disposed minds ; but yet it must 
be confessed, also, that in others not so disposed it helps 
them only to be the more foolish, or worse men. I 
say this, that, when you consider of the breeding of 
your son, and are looking out for a schoolmaster, or a 
tutor, you would not have (as is usual) Latin and logic 
only in your thoughts. Learning must be had, but in 
the second place, as subservient only to greater qualities. 
Seek out somebody that may know how discreetly to 
frame his manners ; place him in hands, where you may, 
as much as possible, secure his innocence, cherish and 
nurse up the good, and gently correct and weed out any 
bad inclinations, and settle in him good habits. This is 
the main point ; and, this being provided for, learning 
may be had into the bargain." 

" Virtue as the first and most necessary of those en- 
dowments that belong to a man or a gentleman," was 
based on religion. " As the foundation of this," says 
Locke, " there ought very early to be imprinted on his 
mind a true notion of God, as of the independent Su- 
preme Being, Author and Maker of all things, from 



REACTION. 219 

whom we receive all our good, who loves us, and gives 
us all things ; and, consequent to this, instill into him a 
love and reverence of this Supreme Being. This is 
enough to begin with, without going to explain this 
matter any further, for fear, lest by talking too early to 
him of spirits, and being unreasonably forward to make 
him understand the incomprehensible nature of that In- 
finite Being, his head be either filled with false, or per- 
plexed with unintelligible notions of him. Let him only 
be told upon occasion that God made and governs all 
things, hears and sees everything, and does all manner 
of good to those that love and obey him." 

Locke attached great importance to the care of the 
body, and devotes the first part of his book to a consid- 
eration of the hygienic laws to be observed. He con- 
cludes his observations with these remarks : " And thus 
I have done with what concerns the body and health, 
which reduces itself to these few and easily observable 
rules : Plenty of open air, exercise, and sleep ; plain diet, 
no wine or strong drink, and very little or no physic ; 
not too warm and strait clothing ; especially the head 
and feet kept cold, and the feet often used to cold water 
and exposed to wet." The wisdom of these rules, except 
the last, has been sufficiently established. 

The disposition and native capacity of pupils should 
be considered in the work of education. Children are 
not to be regarded as insensible objects to be dealt with 
in a blind, mechanical way, but as living creatures to be 
carefully nurtured and developed. " He therefore that 
is about children," says Locke, " should well study their 
natures and aptitudes, and see, by often trials, what turn 
they easily take, and what becomes them ; observe what 



220 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

their native stock is, liow it may "be improved, and what 
it is fit for ; he should consider what they want, whether 
they be capable of having it wrought into them by in- 
dustry, and incorporated there by practice ; and whether 
it be worth while to endeavor it. For, in many cases, 
all that we can do, or should aim at, is to make the best 
of what Nature has given, to prevent the vices and faults 
to which such a constitution is most inclined, and give 
it all the advantages it is capable of. Every one's nat- 
ural genius should be carried as far as it could, but, to 
attempt the putting another upon him, will be but labor 
in vain ; and, what is so plastered on, will at best sit but 
untowardly, and have always hanging to it the ungrace- 
fulness of constraint and affectation." 

The exercises imposed upon pupils should be wisely 
adjusted to their powers and attainments. Locke con- 
demned the practice then in vogue of requiring verses 
and essays on abstract subjects necessarily beyond the 
pupil's capabilities. The study of language should be 
combined with an acquisition of substantial knowledge. 
" The learning of Latin," he says, " being nothing but 
the learning of words, a very unpleasant business both 
to young and old, join as much other knowledge with it 
as you can, beginning still with that which lies most ob- 
vious to the senses — such as is the knowledge of min- 
erals, plants, and animals, and particularly timber and 
fruit-trees, their parts and ways of propagation, wherein 
a great deal may be taught a child, which will not be 
useless to the man ; but, more especially, geography, 
astronomy, and anatomy. But, whatever you are teach- 
ing him, have a care still that you do not clog him with 
too much at once ; or make anything his business but 



REACTION. 221 

downright virtue, or reprove him for anything but vice, 
or some apparent tendency to it." 

Of foreign languages Locke maintained that French 
should be learned first, then Latin ; but these languages 
should not exclude attention to English. The mother- 
tongue has the highest claims upon us. " This I think 
will be agreed to," says Locke, " that if a gentleman is 
to study any language it ought to be that of his own 
country, that he may understand the language which he 
has constant use of with the utmost accuracy." And 
again, " Since it is English that an English gentleman 
will have constant use of, that is the language he should 
chiefly cultivate, and wherein most care should be taken 
to polish and perfect his style." 

Locke thought that the importance of a knowledge 
of Latin was overrated. Though regarding it indispen- 
sable to the wealthy English gentleman, he disapproved 
of forcing Latin upon children who would find no use 
for it in subsequent hfe. " Latin I look upon as abso- 
lutely necessary to a gentleman," he says ; " and indeed 
custom, which prevails over everything, has made it so 
much a part of education that even those children are 
whipped to it, and made spend many hours of their 
precious time uneasily in Latin, who, after they are once 
gone from school, are never to have more to do with it 
as long as they hve. Can there be anything more ridicu- 
lous than that a father should waste his own money, and 
his son's time, in setting him to learn the Roman lan- 
guage, when, at the same time, he designs him for a 
trade, wherein he, having no use of Latin, fails not to 
forget that little which he brought from school, and 
which it is ten to one he abhors for the ill-usage it pro- 



222 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

cured hiin ? Could it be believed, unless we had every- 
wliere among us examples of it, that a child should be 
forced to learn the rudiments of a language, which he is 
never to use in the course of life that he is designed to, 
and neglect all the while the writing a good hand, and 
casting accounts, which are of great advantage in all 
conditions of life, and to most trades indispensably neces- 
sary?" 

Locke maintained that the best way to learn a lan- 
guage, whether ancient or modern, was by practice 
rather than by rule. He attached less importance to 
grammar than was common in his day. " I would fain 
have any one name to me that tongue, that any one can 
learn to speak as he should do, by the rules of grammar. 
Languages were made not by rules of art but by acci- 
dent, and the common use of the people. And he that 
will speak them well has no other rule but that, nor 
anything to trust to but his memory, and the habit of 
speaking after the fashion learned from those that are 
allowed to speak properly, which, in other words, is only 
to speak by rote. It will possibly be asked here, ' Is 
grammar then of no use ? ' . . . I say not so ; grammar 
has its place too. But this I think I may say, there is 
more stir a great deal made with it than there needs, 
and those are tormented about it to whom it does 
not at all belong ; I mean children, at the age where- 
in they are usually perplexed with it in grammar- 
schools." 

If space allowed, it woTild be interesting and profit- 
able to extend these quotations further, for Locke's trea- 
tise abounds in wise and suggestive thought. But we 
conclude this sketch with the following excellent sum- 



KEACTION. 223 

mary from Quick : " Locke's aim was to give a boy a ro- 
bust mind in a robust body. His body was to endure 
hardness, his reason was to teach him self-denial. But 
this result was to be brought about by leading, not driv- 
ing him. He was to be trained, not for the university, 
but for the world. Good principles, good manners, and 
discretion, were to be cared for first of all ; intelligence 
and intellectual activity next ; and actual knowledge last 
of all. His spirits were to be kept up by kind treat- 
ment, and learning was never to be a drudgery. With 
regard to the subjects of instruction, those branches of 
knowledge which concerned things were to take prece- 
dence of those which consist of abstract ideas. The 
prevalent drill in the grammar of the classical languages 
was to be abandoned, the mother-tongue was to be care- 
fully studied, and other languages acquired either by 
conversation, or by the use of translations. In every- 
thing the part the pupil was to play in life was steadily 
to be kept in view; and the ideal which Locke pro- 
posed was not the finished scholar, but the finished gen- 
tleman." 

The reaction hitherto considered against abstract the- 
ological and humanistic education was chiefly philosoph- 
ical and reahstic. We pass now to the consideration 
of another reaction that had its basis in religion, and was 
common to both the Catholic and the Protestant Church, 
though it assumed a different form in each. Europe 
had just passed through the misfortunes and sorrows of 
the Thirty Years' War, and men were in a condition to 
realize the insufllciency of a religion that consisted in 
outward forms and mere intellectual assent to doctrinal 



224 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

systems. The need of a religion of the heart and life 
was felt. 

(g.) JAJSrSENISM. 

This was a movement in the Roman Cathohc Church 
in favor of more evangelical doctrine and greater prac- 
tical piety. It is named from its originator, Jan- 
senius, a bishop in the Netherlands, who was an ardent 
admirer of Augustine, and reproduced the doctrinal 
views of that ecclesiastical father in a work pub- 
lished posthumously in 1640. The opinions thus set 
forth stood in sharp contrast with the prevailing prac- 
tice of the Jesuits, and found a wide acceptance and 
vigorous promulgation. "In the view of the Jansen- 
ists," says Mosheim, "there is nothing entirely sound 
and uncorrupted in the practice and institutions of the 
Komish Church, hi the first place, they complain that 
the whole body of the clergy have forsaken altogether 
the duties of their office. They, moreover, assert that the 
monks are really apostates, and they would have them 
be brought back to their pristine sanctity, and to that 
strict course of life which the founders of the several 
orders prescribed. They would also have the people 
well instructed in the knowledge of religion and Chris- 
tian piety. They contend that the sacred volume, and 
the books containing the forms of public worship, should 
be put into the hands of the people in the vernacular 
tongue of each nation, and should be diligently read and 
studied by all. And, lastly, they assert that aU the peo- 
ple should be carefully taught that true piety toward 
God does not consist in external acts and rites, but in 
purity of heart and divine love." In practice the Jan- 
senists were harshly ascetic. Their doctrines were bit- 



REACTION. 225 

terly attacked by the Jesuits, and in the prolonged con- 
troversy that followed Jansenism was finally suppressed. 

In France Jansenism had several distinguished ad- 
herents, among whom were Pascal and Fenelon. The 
center of the movement in that country was Port-Royal, 
an ancient convent, a few miles from Paris, where a 
number of pious and learned men devoted themselves 
to study, teaching, and the practice of piety. They gave 
much attention to the instruction of youth, and by the 
use of wise methods they achieved excellent results. 
They prepared neat and excellent text-books on gram- 
mar, philosophy, and other branches of knowledge ; they 
translated many of the classic authors ; they produced a 
large number of devotional and practical works, in which 
they exhibited a pure, chaste, and agreeable style. In 
connection with their primary schools, they invented 
and employed the phonic system of spelling. The study 
of language began with the mother-tongue, and not, as 
had hitherto been the case in France, with Latin. The 
doctrine of natural depravity was strongly emphasized 
in the Jansenistic system, and hence a somewhat rigor- 
ous discipline was maintained. A careful and unceasing 
surveillance was exercised over the pupil. But the hope 
of a moral refonnation was placed, not in rigid disci- 
pline, but in divine grace ; and the method of dealing 
with children was reduced by a teacher of Port-Royal to 
these three precepts : " Speak little, endure a great deal, 
and pray still more," 

The method of conducting the Port-Royal schools 
has been thus described by an old French writer : " Up 
to the age of twelve the pupils were occupied with the 
elements of sacred history, geography, and arithmetic, 



226 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

under the form of amusements, in a manner to develop 
their intelligence without wearying it. At twelve years 
the regular course of study began. The hours of study 
and recitation were fixed, but not in an absolute way. 
If study sometimes intrenched upon recreation, recre- 
ation also had its turn, for circumstances were taken into 
account. In winter, when the weather permitted, the 
teacher gave his lesson while taking a walk with his pu- 
pils. Sometimes they left him to climb a hill or run in 
the plain, but they came back to listen to him. In sum- 
mer the class met under the shade of trees by the side 
of brooks. The teacher explained Yirgil and Homer ; 
he commented upon Cicero, Aristotle, Plato, and the 
fathers of the Church. The example of the teachers, 
their conversation and familiar instruction, all that the 
pupil saw, all that he heard, inspired him with a love for 
the beautiful and the good." 

"We are now prepared to form some idea of the Port- 
Koyal education, and to see its direct opposition to the 
Jesuit system. It ranges the teachers of Port-Royal by 
the side of the illustrious educational reformers consid- 
ered in the preceding section. It simplified studies, and 
made them pleasant to the pupil ; it gave a worthy 
prominence to the mother-tongue ; it developed the un- 
derstanding along with the memory ; it imparted sub- 
stantial knowledge in connection with words ; it devel- 
oped the faculties, paid attention to the body, and watched 
over the formation of character. For the rest, the lan- 
guage of Paroz is adopted : " In persecuting the Prot- 
estants, and in suppressing Jansenism, Louis XIY. de- 
prived Christianity in France of its power and freedom, 
and prepared the way for the mocking and frivolous 



REACTION. 227 

unbelief of the eighteenth century. During the past 
few years distinguished savants, hke Cousin, Faugere, 
Yinet, and especially Sainte-Beuve, have called the at- 
tention of the French people to the work, too long for- 
gotten, of Port-Royal ; they have drawn from that 
source subjects of study that have had a high literary, 
philosophical, religious, and educational signiticance. If 
France had developed the pedagogical work commenced 
by Port-Royal, it would be further advanced by almost 
two centuries. The whole of the eighteenth century 
and the first third of the nineteenth dragged themselves 
along in sterile philosophical and pohtical theories ; it is 
only within the past few years that good educational 
works are beginning to appear again in France, taking 
up the thread broken by Louis XIV." 

After these remarks in general upon the educational 
system of Port-Royal, it is necessary to speak of two 
distinguished educators who held, more or less fully, its 
religious and educational views. These are Fenelon and 
RolUn. 

(h.) fenelon. 

This celebrated author and teacher was born in the 
province of Perigord, in 1G51. From an early age he 
was remarkable for industry, for his amiable disposition, 
and thirst for knowledge. Up to the age of twelve his 
education was conducted at home ; he was then sent to 
Cahors, and two years later to Paris, where his course of 
instruction was completed. Destined to the clerical 
office by his family, and inclined toward it by natural 
gifts and disposition, he entered the theological semi- 
nary of Saint-Sulpice, and won general esteem by his 



228 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

application, ability, and exemplary character. He was 
ordained priest at the age of twenty-four, and was 
shortly afterward placed over an institution in Paris 
designed for the instruction of young women who had 
renounced the Protestant faith. "No person," says 
Poche, " was more capable than he of rendering virtue 
attractive by that touching and effective language which 
addresses itself to the heart and inspires confidence. 
To this precious gift he joined the merit of giving his 
instructions that simple, clear, and agreeable fonn that 
placed them within reach of all minds." He spent ten 
years of his life as director of this institution, and it 
was while in charge of it that he wrote his excellent 
work on the " Education of Girls," presently to be 
noticed at some length. 

After the revocation of the Edict of J^antes, Fenelon 
was placed at the head of a mission that was sent to 
Poitou to labor for the conversion to Pomanism of the 
Protestant portion of the population. He fulfilled the 
trying duties of this office with gentleness and tolera- 
tion ; and such was the affability of his manners and the 
charm of his discourse that his labors were not unat- 
tended with success. 

In 1689 he was appointed tutor to the young Duke 
of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIY. This young 
prince was endowed with fine natural abilities, but pos- 
sessed of an inordinate pride and a furious temper. This 
rendered Fenelon's task exceedingly difficult, but he 
discharged its duties with rare wisdom and surprising 
success. " In a short time," says a writer quoted by 
Poche, " affection and kindness made a different person 
of the prince, and changed many and serious faults into 



REACTION. 229 

the wliollj opposite virtues. From this abyss there 
came forth a prince affable, gentle, humane, moderate, 
patient, humble, and self -controlled. Wholly devoted 
to his obligations, and regarding them as great, he only 
thought henceforth of uniting the duties of son and sub- 
ject with those to which he saw himself destined." 

The following incident shows the wisdom with which 
Fenelon knew how to deal with his pupil : In a fit of 
anger occasioned by a gentle reproof, the young duke 
once said to him, " I know who I am, and who you are ! " 
Fenelon made no reply ; but on the following day, in a 
tranquil but serious tone, he said to his pupil : " You re- 
call, no doubt, the words you spoke to me yesterday. My 
duty obhges me to reply to you that you know neither 
who you are nor who I am. If you think yourself above 
me, you are mistaken ; your birth did not depend upon 
you and gives you no merit, and I have more prudence 
and knowledge than you. What you know you have 
learned from me, and I am above you by reason of the 
authority which the king and your father have given 
me over you. It was in obedience to them that I have 
undertaken the difficult and, as it seems, ungrateful task 
of being your teacher ; but, since you appear to think 
that I ought to feel particularly fortunate in discharging 
this duty, I wish to go with you at once to the king and 
request him to relieve me of my duties and to give you 
another instructor." 

This declaration filled the young prince with alarm, 
and, bursting into tears, he exclaimed : " I am sorry for 
what happened yesterday. If you speak to the king, I 
shall forfeit his friendship. If you leave me, what will 
be thought of me ? Forgive me, and I promise that 



230 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

you will have no ground of complaint in the future." 
This was no doubt the result aimed at ; but Fenelon did 
not yield at once, and left his pupil in painful uncer- 
tainty for a day, when, assured that the repentance was 
sincere, he resumed his duties. 

In the work of instructing his pupil Fenelon com- 
posed fables, compiled histories, and wrote fiction em- 
bodying valuable lessons. It was with this view that he 
wrote his " Telemachus," a work that has a permanent 
place in the classic literature of France. Under his in- 
struction, which comprehended religion, morals, philoso- 
phy, history, languages, Kterature, and pohtics, the young 
prince made admirable attainments. A brilliant future 
was predicted for him, but death intervened to prevent 
its realization. 

In 1695 Fenelon was elevated to the archbishopric 
of Cambray, in recognition of his previous services. He 
devoted himself conscientiously to the duties of his dio- 
cese. He led a life of great simplicity, and divided his 
time between the administration of affairs and the per- 
sonal instruction of his fiock. Though he had delighted 
the French court by his eloquence, and had embarrassed 
Bossuet by his ability, yet he found pleasure in going 
through the villages of his diocese to teach the simple 
peasantry the catechism in language suited to their un- 
cultured condition. 

The later years of his life were rendered unhappy 
by theological controversies, by the displeasure of the 
king, and by the loss of his dearest friends. His sor- 
rows were heavy, but he bore them with touching resig- 
nation. " He died," says Lamartine, " like a saint and 
poet, listening to the sweetest and sublimest hymns, 



REACTION. 231 

whicli carried at the same time his imagination and his 
soul to heaven." 

Fenelon's work on the " Education of Girls " is an 
admirable treatise. It not only presents advanced views 
in regard to female education, but it abounds in general 
pedagogical principles of great wisdom, drawn from a 
profound acquaintance with child-nature. 

Eegarding woman as intellectually inferior to man, 
he excludes her from politics, the law, the ministry, and 
other mascuhne vocations. " But what follows," he 
asks, "from the natural weakness of women? The 
weaker they are, the more it is important to strengthen 
them. Have they not duties to perform, duties that 
constitute the foundation of all human life ? Is it not 
women that ruin and that sustain households, that regu- 
late all the details of domestic matters, and that conse- 
quently decide what concerns most nearly the whole 
human race ? In this way they have the principal part 
in the good or bad morals of almost the whole world. 
A judicious, diligent, and pious woman is the soul of a 
household ; she establishes order in it for temporal pros- 
perity and salvation. Even men, who have all public 
authority, are not able by their deliberations to establish 
any effective measure for good, unless the women aid 
them in having it executed." 

Female education is a necessity. If a girl is left 
without a proper education, and is allowed to grow up in 
idleness, she will naturally fall into objectionable habits, 
and develop a discontented disposition. " Ignorant 
and idle girls," Fenelon says, " always have a wandering 
imagination. In the absence of solid instruction, their 
curiosity turns strongly to vain and dangerous subjects. 



232 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

Those possessing ability sometimes become affected, and 
read all the books that can nourish their vanity ; they 
become excessively fond of romances, comedies, and ex- 
travagant adventures, with which unworthy love is com- 
mingled. They render their minds visionary, in accus- 
toming themselves to the magnificent language of the 
heroes of romances ; they thus disqualify themselves 
even for society ; for all those beautiful, ethereal senti- 
ments, those generous affections, all those adventures in- 
vented by the novehst in order to give pleasure, have no 
relation with the true motives which are operative in 
the world, and which decide affairs, nor with the fail- 
ures which we experience in every undertaking." 

Education should be commenced at a very early age. 
" In order to remedy all these evils," says Fenelon, " it 
is a great advantage to be able to begin the education of 
girls in infancy. This early age, which is abandoned 
to indiscreet and sometimes profligate women, is that in 
which the deepest impressions are made, and which has 
consequently a strong influence on all subsequent life." 
This early education should have reference to the body, 
the mind, and character. The health should be cared 
for ; the faculties should not be prematurely developed ; 
the passions should not be inflamed, and patience and 
self-denial should be inculcated and practiced. 

As the basis of methods of instruction, Fenelon thus 
portrays the nature of the mind in childhood: "The 
substance of the brain is soft, and it hardens every day ; 
as for the mind, it knows nothing — everything is new to 
it. The soft condition of the brain makes it easily sus- 
ceptible to impressions, and the surprise of novelty easily 
excites admiration, and renders children very inquisi- 



REACTION. 233 

tive. It is true, also, that this humid and soft state of 
the brain, joined to great warmth, gives it ready and 
continual motion. Hence comes the restlessness of chil- 
dren, who are unable to fix their minds upon any sub- 
ject, or their bodies in any place." 

Instruction should be made pleasant, and the utility 
of the subjects taught should be explained. " By all 
means let the child play," says Fenelon ; " let wisdom 
be forced upon him only at intervals, and with a laugh- 
ing face ; beware of tiring him with injudicious exac- 
tions. ... It is necessary to explain the reason of what 
one teaches. You should say to your pupils ; ' This is 
to prepare you for your future vocation ; this is to form 
your judgment ; this is to accustom you to reason justly 
upon all the affairs of life.' It is necessary to show them 
always a solid and agreeable purpose that will sustain 
them in their efforts, and never to pretend to control 
them by a dry and absolute authority." 

The fondness that children have for history should 
not be unimproved. Instructive narratives should be 
presented, particularly those of the Bible ; for the latter, 
apart from historical knowledge, have a moral and re- 
ligious value. The moral and religious instruction should 
be watched over with special care, and the faults and 
weaknesses to which girls are liable should be guarded 
against. The education of woman should have regard 
to domestic relations, for whose manifold duties and 
res]3onsibilities a high degree of wisdom is necessary. 
Girls should be instructed in reading, writing, and arith- 
metic ; in keeping accounts ; in the leading principles 
of justice and government ; and, after these fundamental 
studies, history, language, literature, music, and painting 



234 FROM THE REFORMATION TO TEE PRESENT TIME. 

might be tauglit, yet in sucli a manner as to preserve 
pupils from all moral injury. 

Paroz concludes liis study of Fenelon's treatise with 
the following judicious remarks : " We have to-day edu- 
cational works that are more complete and systematic, 
but this one will live because of its excellent spirit and 
beautiful style. In all ages and in every land it will 
be read with pleasure and profit. Of all the Catholic 
clergy who have engaged in educational work, Fenelon 
has perhaps approached nearest to the rational princi- 
ples which form the basis of modern pedagogy. The 
order of ITature has a place in his theology, and he 
knows how to reconcile the needs of temporal hfe with 
the spirit of Christianity. This characteristic will al- 
ways assign him a high rank among educators." 

(l.) KOLLIN. 

Rollin, so well known in this country by his " An- 
cient History," was born at Paris, in 1661. He was the 
son of a poor but honest cutler, who intended his son to 
follow the same vocation. He was rescued from this 
humble state by a Benedictine friar, who discovered 
young Rollin's abilities, and had him entered at the Col- 
lege du Plessis. Having that ardent desire for knowl- 
edge, so often accompanying genius, he made rapid 
progress, and early established a well-founded reputa- 
tion. He was especially proficient in literary studies. 
" Go to Eollin," said his professor of rhetoric, when ap- 
plied to for any prose or poetic composition ; " he will 
do it better than I can." Rollin studied theology three 
years at the Sorbonne, the most celebrated of the Catho- 
lic seminaries of France. 



REACTION. 235 

In 1688 he was elevated to the ciiair of Eloquence in 
the Royal College of France, and filled the position with 
zeal and success. He encouraged the study of the French 
language and literature, and revived an interest in the 
ancient tongues, particularly in Greek. In 1694 he was 
appointed rector of the University of Paris, and signal- 
ized his brief tenure of two years by the introduction of 
some salutary reforms. In 1699 he was made principal 
of the College of Beauvais, and so great had his reputa- 
tion now become that he soon filled its deserted halls 
with students. But his life was not to run on smoothly. 
His adherence to Jansenism, which has already been 
explained, brought upon him the unrelenting persecu- 
tion of the Jesuits, and he was forced to give up his po- 
sition in 1Y12. 

In 1720 he was called from his modest but busy re- 
tirement to assume a^ain the manao-ement of the uni- 
versity as rector. Six years later he published his 
" Treatise on Studies," which entitles him to an honor- 
able place in educational history. I^ot long afterward 
he completed his " Ancient History," which, despite its 
credulity, inaccuracy, and excessive admiration for an- 
tiquity, possesses a charm that will always render it a 
pleasing and profitable work. 

As a man, Eollin was worthy not simply of respect 
but also of affection. " In RoUin's character," says a 
biographer, " learning was ennobled by virtue, and vir- 
tue elevated by piety. His piety was not affected — was 
not the homage that vice pays to virtue, but that of an 
honest and ardent mind. He lived in what is termed 
the Augustan age of French literature — the age of Louis 
XIY. — so much extolled by Voltaire, and was contem- 



236 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

poraneous with lier most celebrated literary characters. 
Although not entitled to the first rank among the writers 
of his own country, yet his attainments were great, his 
talents respectable, his learning extensive, and his taste 
purified by the models of classical antiquity. It may be 
aflBrmed that his virtues were of the first order, and what 
blemishes were in his character were as small spots in a 
luminous body." 

We now tm-n to RoUin's " Treatise on Studies," in 
which he treats of primary education ; of the study of 
language ; of poetry ; of rhetoric ; of the several kinds 
of eloquence ; of history ; of philosophy ; and of the 
management of colleges. " The purpose of teachers," 
says Rollin,* " is not simply to teach their pupils Latin 
and Greek ; to show them how to write exercises, verses, 
and amplifications ; to load their memory with historic 
facts and dates ; to construct syllogisms in due form ; 
and to trace on paper certain lines and figures. This 
knowledge, I do not deny, is useful and valuable, but as 
a means and not as an end. . . . The purpose of teach- 
ers, in the long course of study, is to accustom their pu- 
pils to serious work ; to make them esteem and love the 
sciences ; to show them how to make progress ; to make 
them feel the use and value of knowledge — and in this 
way prepare them for the different pursuits to which 
Providence may call them. The purpose of teachers, 
still more than that, is to form the mind and heart of 
their pupils ; to protect their innocence ; to inspire 
them with principles of honor and probity ; to have 
them form good habits; to correct and suppress in 

* The rest of this sketch is translated from Paroz, with but few 
changes. 



REACTION. 237 

tliem, by gentle means, the bad inclinations that may 
be observed." 

Eollin laid great stress upon religious or spiritual 
education. "What is a Christian teacher chai'ged with 
the education of the young ? " he asks. " He is a man 
in whose hands Jesus Christ has placed a certain num- 
ber of children whom he has redeemed by his blood, in 
whom he lives as his temple, whom he regards as his 
members, as his brethren, as his co-heirs ; of whom he 
wishes to make kings and priests who will reign and 
serve God with him and by him through all eternity. 
And for what purpose has he confided children to them ? 
Is it just to make poets, orators, philosophers, and schol- 
ars of them ? Who would dare say or even think that ? 
It is for the pm'pose of preserving in them the precious 
and inestimable gift of innocence which he has impressed 
upon their souls by baptism — for the purpose of making 
true Christians of them. This is the end of education, 
and all the rest holds the place of means." 

What are the qualifications of a teacher? Rolhn 
answers : " When a teacher has asked and received from 
Jesus Christ, for the management of others and for his 
own salvation, the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the 
spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of learning and 
piety, and, above all, the spirit of fear of the Lord, there 
is nothing further to be said to him ; this spirit is an in- 
ternal teacher that dictates and instructs in everything, 
and that on every occasion will show him his duties 
and give him wisdom to perform them. A great indi- 
cation that one has received it is when he feels an ardent 
zeal for the salvation of childi-en ; when he is touched 
by their dangers ; when he is sensible to their faults ; 



238 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

when lie experiences sometliing of the tenderness and 
solicitude that Paul felt for the Galatians." 

Kollin lays down some excellent rules and principles 
for the management of children : 

" 1. The lirst duty of the teacher is to study well the 
genius and character of children. To wish to place them 
on the same level, and to subject them to a single rule, 
is to force nature. 

" 2. In education the highest stiU consists in know- 
ing how to unite, by a wise temperament, a force that 
restrains children without repelling them, and a gentle- 
ness that wins without enervating them. 

"3. The short and common method of correcting 
children is with the rod ; but this remedy sometimes 
becomes a more dangerous evil than those which one 
seeks to cure, if it is employed without reason and mod- 
eration. 

" 4. The only vice, it seems to me, that deserves se- 
vere treatment is obstinacy in evil, but an obstinacy vol- 
untary, determined, and well defined. 

"5. The teacher ought never to punish in anger, 
especially if the fault which he punishes concerns him 
personally, such as a want of respect or some offensive 
speech. 

" 6. Cuffs, blows, and other like treatment, are abso- 
lutely forbidden to teachers. They ought to punish only 
to correct, and passion does not correct. 

" 7. It is a quite common fault to make use of repri- 
mands for the slightest faults which are almost inevita- 
ble to children. This breaks the force of reprimands, 
and renders tliem fruitless. 

" 8. We should avoid exciting the spite of children 



REACTION. 239 

by the harsliness of our language, their anger by exag- 
geration, their pride by marks of contempt. 

"9. It is necessary always to show children a sub- 
stantial and agreeable end which may hold them to 
work, and never pretend to force them by a direct and 
absolute authority. 

" 10. "We should run the risk of discouraging chil- 
dren if we never praised them when they do well. Al- 
though praises are to be feared because of vanity, it is 
necessary to make use of them to encourage children, 
without cultivating that vice. 

" 11. Rewards are not to be neglected for children, 
and although they are not, any more than praise, the 
principal motive to make them act, yet both may be- 
come useful to virtue, and a strong incentive to its prac- 
tice. 

" 12. It is a great good fortune for young people to 
find masters whose life is a continual lesson ; whose ac- 
tions do not belie their teaching; who practice what 
they preach, and shun what they censure ; and who are 
admired more for their conduct than for their instruc- 
tion." 

(j.) PIETISM. 

Pietism is a term of reproach fixed upon a worthy 
movement in the Protestant Church in the direction of 
a consistent Christian life. This movement was opposed 
to the formality and inconsistency characteristic of the 
period of " dead orthodoxy." It was begun by Philip 
Jacob Spener, a man of fine natural abilities, large at- 
tainments, and deep spirituality. As leading pastor at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, he began, in 1670, to hold meet- 



240 JS'ROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

ings at Ms house for the promotion of biblical knowl- 
edge and the cultivation of evangelical piety. He con- 
tinued his reformatory efforts at Dresden as chief court- 
preacher, and afterward at Berlin as provost of the 
Church of St. Nicholas. "A return from scholastic 
theology to the holy Scriptures as the living source of 
all saving knowledge," says Kurtz ; " a conversion of 
the outward orthodox confession into an inner living 
theology of the heart, and a demonstration thereof in 
true piety of life — these were the ways and means by 
which he proposed to effect the desu-ed reform." The 
Pietistic movement gave rise to a prolonged contro- 
versy, whose general influence, in spite of much bitter- 
ness and persecution, was favorable to Christian life in 
the Church. 

(k.) fkajstcke. 

Pietism was brought into relation with education 
chiefly by August Hermann Francke, who as a success- 
ful and consecrated Christian teacher exerted a wide in- 
fluence. He was born at Liibeck, on the Baltic, in 1663. 
He received his preparatory training at the Gymnasium 
of Gotha, after which he attended the universities of 
Erfurt and Kiel, studying metaphysics, natural science, 
history, languages, and theology. A remark of his in 
reference to this period of his life throws light upon the 
prevalent method of theological study. " My theology," 
he says, "I grasped with the head but not with the 
heart ; it was more a dead science than a living knowl- 
edge. I indeed knew how to define faith, regeneration, 
justification, renewal, and so on ; also, how to distinguish 
one from the other, and to prove it by passages from 



REACTION. 241 

Scripture ; but I found nothing in my heart of it all, 
and possessed nothing more than what existed in mj 
memory and imagination. Yea, I had no other concep- 
tion of theological study than that it consisted in having 
well in mind the theological assemblies and books, and 
in being able to speak learnedly about them." 

After leaving the universities Francke spent a yeai* 
and a half at Gotha, during which time he read the He- 
brew Bible through seven times. In 1684 he went to 
Leipsic, where his lectures on the Old and 'New Testa- 
ments, differing widely from the cold, logical processes 
of the universities, attracted considerable attention. He 
sympathized with Spener's views, and joined the Pietistic 
reform. In 1687 he went to Hamburg, where he estab- 
lished a primary school that brought him valuable expe- 
rience and determined the direction of his life. " Upon 
the establishment of this school," he says, " I learned 
how destructive the usual school management is, and 
how exceedingly difficult the discipline of children ; and 
this reflection made me desire that God would make me 
worthy to do something for the improvement of schools 
and instruction." 

In 1691 the University of Halle was founded, and 
the following year, through the influence of Spener, 
Francke was appointed Professor of Greek and Oriental 
Languages, and at the same time pastor of a suburban 
church. Here in Halle he accomplished a great work, 
which stands in educational history almost without a 
parallel. The beginning was very humble. The poor 
were accustomed to assemble on Thursday before the 
parsonage to receive alms. The thought occurred to 
Francke that the occasion might be improved for re- 
11 



242 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

ligious instruction. He invited the crowd of young and 
old into his house, and along with bread he administered 
spiritual food. He learned the condition of the poorer 
classes, and his heai't was touched by their ignorance 
and need. He deprived himself of comforts to admin- 
ister to their necessities. He solicited aid from his 
friends, and hung up a poor-box to receive contribu- 
tions. One day he found in it the sum of seven florins, 
the gift of a benevolent woman. With the joy of faith 
he exclaimed : " That is a splendid capital, with which I 
must accomplish something useful ; I will begin a school 
for the poor ! " Books were immediately bought, and a 
needy student of the university engaged to teach the 
children two hours each day. The undertaking pros- 
pered ; the parsonage soon became too small ; more com- 
modious quarters had to be engaged. With increasing 
wants came enlarged contributions, and Francke con- 
tinued to develop his work till it assumed at length im- 
mense proportions. At the time of his death, in 1727, 
it comprised the following institutions : 

1. The Pedagogium, having eighty-two students. 
This school was designed for the higher classes, and pro- 
vided instruction in religion, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, 
French, German, arithmetic, geography, history, chro- 
nology, geometry, astronomy, music, botany, anatomy, 
and the essential principles of medicine. In order to 
render instruction as practicable as possible, the school 
was equipped with a museum of natural history, a chem- 
ical laboratory, apparatus for experiments in physics, 
and a botanical garden. All this marked a departure in 
the secondary education of the time, and places Francke 
among the educational reformers. 



REACTION. 24:3 

2. The Latin Scliool of the Orphan House, with three 
inspectors, thirty-two teachers, four hundred students, 
and ten servants. 

3. The German Burgher School, with four inspect- 
ors, one hundred and six teachers, and seventeen hun- 
dred and twenty-eight pupils of both sexes. This held 
the rank of a good primary school. 

4. The Orphan House, with one hundred boys, thirty- 
four girls, and ten overseers. 

5. The Free Table, with six hundred and fifteen in- 
digent scholars. 

6. The Drug-Store and Book-Store, with fifty-three 
dependents. 

T. The Institution for Women, with twenty-nine in- 
mates. 

The whole number of teachers, pupils, and depend- 
ents in the several institutions under Francke's direction 
amounted to four thousand two hundred and seventy- 
three. 

Besides the direction of all these institutions, a work 
sufficient to overwhelm an ordinary man, Francke was 
active in other ways. His pastoral duties were faith- 
fully performed ; he founded a printing-office that sent 
forth before the close of the eighteenth century a million 
and a half of Bibles and a million copies of the New 
Testament ; under the patronage of the King of Den- 
mark, Frederick TV., he estabhshed a mission in India 
that continued over a hundred years. Through the 
teachers and ministers sent forth from his institutions, 
he reached all parts of Europe. Count Zinzendorf, the 
founder of the Moravian Brethren, was one of his pupils. 
As professor in the University of Halle, he was instru- 



244 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

mental in effecting useful changes in the courses of 
study, and in elevating the moral tone of the body of 
students. He constantly sought their conversion and 
spiritual development. Theology became a matter of 
the heart as well as of the head. " A grain of living 
faith," Fraucke says, " is worth more than a pound of 
historic knowledge ; and a drop of love, than an ocean 
of science." 

The spirit that animated Francke in his vast enter- 
prises is well worthy of our consideration. A profound 
personal piety lay at the basis of all his work. He 
founded his institutions with a firm reliance upon God, 
and depended upon prayer to bring him the necessary 
help. He regarded piety as the most essential thing in 
education. He emphasized the truth that education 
should have reference to the student's subsequent voca- 
tion ; he increased the number of utilitarian studies, and 
laid the foundation of modern practical education. 

In the following passages Francke expresses his views 
fully and clearly in regard to education : " Only the 
truly pious man," he says, " is a good member of society. 
Without sincere piety all knowledge, all prudence, all 
worldly culture is more hurtful than useful, and we are 
never secure against its misuse. Although all children 
are not depraved to the same degree, yet all bear the 
seed of depravity within them; and, hence, a funda- 
mental improvement of the heart must always be labored 
for. In this work we must beware of fighting against 
some particular faults as if they were the only ones, al- 
though many deserve especial attention. Also, we must 
not lose sight of the peculiarities of each character, the 
differences of temperament. . . . Piety agrees with all 



REACTION. 245 

states and conditions into which, man may come, for 
every condition with which it does not agree becomes 
by this very fact unlawful. It does not exclude pru- 
dence in conduct, but this must always be subordinated 
to godliness." 

" Youth needs pleasure and recreation. This it finds 
partly in physical exercise, partly in pleasant and at the 
same time useful employments, especially in mechanical 
employments ; partly in the examination of new and in- 
teresting objects of nature and art. In all instruction 
we must keep the pupil's station and future calling in 
mind, but to all classes alike is piety necessary. Hence, 
it must remain in all schools the chief matter, the prin- 
cipal lesson. In the instruction of those who are des- 
tined to unprofessional employments and trades, the 
most important thing after rehgion is an acquaintance 
with the indispensable arts of reading, writing, and reck- 
oning ; but the elements of other branches of knowledge 
should not be neglected, especially the elements of natu- 
ral science, geography, history, and government, which, 
however, are to be brought forward incidentally and 
later." 

The following rules are taken fi*om Francke's in- 
structions to his teachers upon the manner of exercising 
school-discipline. They exhibit his clear pedagogical in- 
sight, his piety, and his sympathy and love for children : 

1. In exercising discipline, which is necessary and 
conformable to the will of God, the teacher should pray 
God first of all to give him the necessary wisdom. 

2. As most teachers seek to correct children by rig- 
orous punishment rather than by gaining their love 
through patience, forbearance, and affection ; and, as 



246 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

young teacliers in particular are lacking in paternal so- 
licitude and Christian gentleness, they ought to suppli- 
cate the Lord, without ceasing, to fill them with love for 
the young who are confided to them, and to deliver them 
from all harshness and carnal sufficiency. 

3. The teacher should learn to govern himself, with- 
out which he can not properly govern others. 

4. A teacher should maintain discipline over his pu- 
pils, and should exhort and punish them when necessary ; 
nevertheless, education should not be hard and severe, 
but gentle and paternal. 

5. A teacher ought never to punish a child in anger. 

6. A teacher ought not to be ill-humored, but cordial 
and kind, like a father. 

7. Children ought not to be punished for little faults 
inherent in their age, but should be encouraged to be 
more careful. 

8. A Christian teacher should beware of becoming 
the occasion of disorder which he is to punish. 

9. Children should not be abused with harsh epi- 
thets. It is contrary to the spirit of Christianity. 

10. A child ought never to be scolded because it can 
not understand. If it is dull of comprehension, the 
teacher should redouble his efforts in its behalf. 

11. A teacher should study the disposition of his pu- 
pils, as delicate and gentle natures are not to be treated 
like coarse and hardened natures. 

12. In avoiding too great severity the teacher should 
not fall into the opposite extreme, and become the sport 
of the children. 

13. With youth over fifteen years of age the teacher 
should abstain from harsh words, threats, and blows, by 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 247 

which they may become imbittered. It is better to take 
them separately, talk to them kindly — sometimes even 
pray with them. If these means are fmitless, let them 
be brought before the school board, or punished in the 
presence of a colleague. 

Francke's long and useful life was crowned with a 
fitting close. He bore his last sickness with Christian 
resignation. The words of the patriarch Jacob were 
often upon his lips, " Lord, I wait for thy salvation." 
At the last hour his wife, the faithful companion of 
many years, stood by his side. " The Saviour will be 
with you," she said. " There is no doubt of it," he re- 
plied. These were his last words; and, in the midst 
of the hymns and prayers of assembled friends, he peace- 
fully fell asleep June 8, 1727. 



6. Abstract Human Education. 

The eighteenth century witnessed a new movement 
which has been characterized as abstract human educa- 
tion.* In general, it ignores or rejects revealed relig- 
ion, and bases its educational principles on the purely 
natural. Though as one-sided as the theological tend- 
ency, it has the great merit of stimulating a careful 
study of man in the interests of correct educational 
methods. In this way it rendered invaluable service 
to the cause of educational progress. 

This movement exhibited two entirely different tend- 
encies — the realistic tendency, which emphasized the 
study of Nature, and the humanistic tendency, which 

* The German expression is " abstract menschUche Erzielmng?^ 



248 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

empliasized the study of words. Both of these tenden- 
cies, which had been in conflict to a greater or less 
degree during the preceding century, agreed in ehmi- 
nating revealed religion from education. 

This dual movement admits of an easy explanation. 
In the great process of human development extremes 
tend to beget extremes. The path of human progress is 
zigzag. Throughout the seventeenth century, which we 
have just considered, a mere formal religion remained 
in the ascendency. It continued the controlling factor 
in education, in spite of the attacks of the pietists and 
educational reformers. It long thwarted the confident 
expectations of Comenius. But a rehgion, which has 
lost its vital power, can not hold a permanent ascend- 
ency over the world. Its weakness exposes it to attack. 
A skeptical movement, known as Deism, arose in Eng- 
land, and gradually extended over the whole of Eui'ope. 
Its principal tenets, as given by Kahnis, are the follow- 
ing : " Christianity is a positive religion, like Judaism 
and Mohammedanism. It is a prejudice which the 
Christians have, in common with the Jews and Moham- 
medans, to imagine that their religion is the only true 
one. That which separates these religions is the posi- 
tive, but that is merely the unessential — the shell. In 
the main point, all positive religions are at one. This 
main point is natural religion — the religion of sound 
common sense." Deism rejected the supernatural in 
religion. As its principles had no other than a specula- 
tive basis, they were lacking in certainty and authority, 
and in many cases prepared the way for the grossest 
atheism. From the deistic or skeptical stand-point the 
current education of the time, unduly controlled by nar- 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 249 

row ecclesiastical influences, was judged defective. Edu- 
cational reformers representing the skeptical tendency 
arose, and new movements were inaugurated. 

(a.) EOIJSSEAir. 

There are few men who have exerted a greater influ- 
ence upon education than the celebrated author, Jean- 
Jacques Rousseau. He was bom at Geneva, in 1712, the 
son of a poor watchmaker. As a child he was feeble in 
body and shy in disposition, but at the same time he was 
endowed with remarkable vivacity in thought and feeling. 
He was exceedingly fond of reading, in which he was 
encouraged by his father; and, among other works, 
many of which were worthless, he early devoured Bos- 
suet, Ovid, and Plutarch. " Thus began to be formed 
within me," he says, " that heart, at once so proud and 
so tender, that effeminate but yet indomitable character 
which, ever oscillating between weakness and courage, 
between indulgence and virtue, has to the last placed 
me in contradiction with myself, and has brought it to 
pass that abstinence and enjoyment, pleasure and wis- 
dom, have alike eluded me." 

It is not worth while to follow him through the un- 
important events of his life. His boyhood was by no 
means worthy of imitation ; and in his " Confessions," a 
work written with the utmost frankness late in life, he 
does not attempt to conceal theft and lying. He ran 
away from an engraver to whom he had been appren- 
ticed, and during the remainder of his life he was a 
wanderer who enjoyed but temporary seasons of repose. 
Throughout his career he was subject to petty misfort- 
unes and persecutions, but his immoralities repress our 



250 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

sjmpatliy for his sufferings and lessen our admiration 
for his genius. His life was a singular paradox. " There 
is in our hterary history," says an interesting French 
author, " a celebrated writer who offers the singular 
combination of grandeur in his works and of baseness in 
his conduct ; it is Jean- Jacques Rousseau. Full of en- 
thusiasm for the beautiful and the good, he defended 
with invincible logic and passionate eloquence the eter- 
nal principles of justice and morality, and he committed 
the most shameful and culpable acts. This man, who 
wrote admirable pages upon domestic affection, friend- 
ship, and gratitude, chose a companion unworthy of 
him, placed his children in a foundling hospital, and 
showed himseK unjust and harsh toward his friends, and 
ungrateful toward his benefactors. And all the time 
doing wrong, he beheved himself moral, because he loved 
virtue. ' I do evil,' he said, ' but I love good. My heart 
is pure.' " 

Rousseau has exerted his influence upon education 
through a single work, half treatise and half romance. 
It is, as he himself says, " a collection of thoughts and 
observations, without order and almost without connec- 
tion." It is entitled " Emile, or concerning Education." 
In many respects a radical book, it is flung defiantly in 
the face of prevalent usage. " Go directly contrary to 
custom," he says, " and you will nearly always be right." 
The work abounds in mingled truth and error, and needs 
to be read with great discrimination ; but many of its 
truths are fundamental, and ever since their publication 
they have been gradually forcing an entrance into edu- 
cational practice. "Not Rousseau's individual rules," 
says the great Gennan Richter, " many of which may 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 251 

be erroneous without injury to the whole, but the spirit 
of education which fills and animates the work has 
shaken to their foundations and purified all the school- 
rooms, and even the nurseries in Europe. In no pre- 
vious work on education was the ideal so richly and 
beautifully combined with actual observation as in his." 

Rousseau was largely indebted to his predecessors, 
especially to Locke, whom he frequently quotes. The 
two fundamental truths which have perhaps exerted the 
widest influence are these : 1. Kature is to be studied 
and followed. 2. Education is an unbroken unity, ex- 
tending from early childhood to maturity. It is true 
that both of these principles had been advocated by Co- 
menius, but it was through the charm of Rousseau's 
work that they made the widest impression upon the 
educational thinking of Europe. Along with positions 
wholly indefensible, Rousseau urges, in admirable style, 
many of the reforms with which we are already familiar, 
and which have won our hearty approval. His stand- 
point, as presented in the opening paragraph of " fimile," 
is undoubtedly wrong. " Everything is good," he says, 
" as it comes from the hands of the Creator ; everything 
degenerates in the hands of man. He forces one coun- 
try to bring forth the productions of another ; one tree 
to bear the fruits of another ; he mingles and confuses 
climates, elements, seasons; he mutilates his dog, his 
horse, his slave ; he overturns everything, he disfigures 
everything ; he loves deformity, monsters ; he wishes 
nothing as l^ature has made it, not even man ; it is 
necessary to train him like a riding-horse ; to conform 
him to a model like a tree in the garden." 

Rousseau is thus seen to be hostile to the estabhshed 



252 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

order of tilings. Society at the Frencli capital had he- 
come exceedingly artificial and corrupt. Its shallow 
conventionalities and irrational customs irritated Rous- 
seau, and with an exaggeration natural to him he made 
society at large the object of indiscriminate attack. He 
maintains that civiHzation fosters vice, that the arts and 
sciences have been born of sin, and hence he seeks a 
sovereign remedy for existing evils in a return to a state 
of nature. " Rousseau did not understand," says Paroz, 
" or rather he did not believe, that the evil reigning 
among mankind was anterior to civilization, and that 
civilization is dangerous only as it departs from the vivi- 
fying and elevating principles of Christianity. It is 
from the heart, and not from civilization, that the bad 
thoughts and bad actions which trouble humanity have 
their issue; and to elevate man we need a principle 
which renews and changes the heart. Every other means 
is insufficient ; after having taken civilization from man 
to keep him from doing evil, it would still be necessary 
to deprive him of his limbs, and at last of life itself." 

With the intention of following Nature, Rousseau 
carries Emile, his hero, through five periods of develop- 
ment : the first embraces his infancy, the second extends 
to his twelfth year, the third to his fifteenth, the fourth 
to his twentieth, and the fifth includes his marriage. 
To each of these periods a book is devoted, setting forth 
the matter and method of training in detail. 

Rousseau maintained that child-nature should be in- 
vestigated as the basis of all correct training. " People," 
he says, " do not understand childhood. With the false 
notions we have of it, the further we go the more we 
blunder. The wisest apply themselves to what it is im- 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. £53 

portant for men to know without considering what chil- 
dren are in a condition to learn. They are always seek- 
ing the man in the child, without reflecting what he is 
before he can be a man." "Nature," he says again, 
" requires children to be children before they are men. 
If we wish to pervert this order, we shall produce for- 
ward fruits, having neither ripeness nor taste, and cer- 
tain soon to decay ; we shall have young professors and 
old children. Childhood has its manner of seeing, per- 
ceiving, and thinking peculiar to itself ; nothing is more 
absurd than our being anxious to substitute our own in 
its stead." 

The period of childhood should be devoted to physi- 
cal development and the training of the senses. " The 
child must learn," says Rousseau, " to feel the warmth 
and coldness, the hardness, softness, and weight of bodies ; 
to judge of their figure, magnitude, and other sensible 
qualities, by seeing, touching, hearing, and particularly 
by comparing the sight with the touch, and judging, by 
means of the eye, of the sensation which objects would 
make upon the fingers." 

Kousseau emphasized the importance of a knowledge 
of things as contrasted with a knowledge of words. 
"The abuse of books," he says, "is destructive to 
knowledge. Imagining ourselves to know everything 
we read we believe ourselves released from learn- 
ing it. Too much reading serves only to make us 
presumptuous blockheads. Of all the ages in which 
literature has flourished, reading was never so universal 
as in the present, nor were men in general ever so 
ignorant." 

Eousseau holds to the developing idea in education. 



254 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

and assails tlie practice of imparting knowledge to the 
passive pupil by the weight of authority. "Another 
advantage," he says, "resulting from this method of 
learning for ourselves is, that we do not accustom our- 
selves to a servile submission to the authority of others ; 
but, by exercising our reason, grow every day more in- 
genious in the discovery of the relation of things, in con- 
necting our ideas and inventing instruments ; whereas, 
by adopting all that is told us, the mind grows dull and 
indifferent, as a man, who is always dressed and served 
by his servants and drawn by his horses, loses at length 
the activity and use of his limbs." 

The end of education is to develop a complete manT? 
" In the order of !N"ature," says Rousseau, " all men are 
equal, their common vocation is the estate of man ; and 
whoever is well brought up for that will not fail in any- 
thing belonging to it. It is a matter of little unportance 
to me whether my pupil be destined for arms, for the 
Church, or for the bar. Before the vocation assigned 
him by his parents, iN^ature calls him to human life. To 
live is the business I wish to teach him. When he 
leaves my hands I acknowledge that he will be neither 
magistrate, soldier, nor priest ; he will be first of all a 
man — all that a man ought to be he can be ; and, though 
fortune change, he will be prepared for every condi- 
tion." 

With regard to female education, Eousseau's views 
were not broad. "All the education of women," he 
says, " ought to be relative to men. To please them, to 
make themselves loved by them, to bring them up when 
they are little, to care for them when they are grown 
up, to counsel them, to console them, to render their 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 265 

lives agreeable and pleasant — such liave been the duties 
of women in all ages." 

It is difficult to resist the temptation unduly to mul- 
tiply quotations from this brilliant book. But we con- 
clude our study with the well-known and beautiful trib- 
ute which Rousseau, deist though he was, pays to Christ 
and his gospel. " I confess also," he says, " that the 
majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me, that the purity 
of the gospel speaks to my heart. Look at the books of 
the philosophers, with all their pomp ; how insignificant 
in comparison with it ! Is it possible that a book at 
once so sublime and so simple is the work of men ? Is 
it possible that he whose history it contains is himself 
only a man ? Is that the tone of an enthusiast or am- 
bitious sectaiy ? What gentleness, what purity in his 
manners ! What touching grace in his instructions I 
What elevation in his maxims ! What profound wisdom 
in his discourses ! What presence of mind, what deli- 
cacy and justice in his replies ! What control over his 
passions ! Where is the man, where is the philosopher, 
that knows how to live, suffer, and die without weak- 
ness and ostentation ? . . . The death of Socrates, phi- 
losophizing tranquilly with his friends, is the most de- 
sirable that can be wished ; that of Jesus expiring in 
agony, insulted, jeered, cursed by a whole people, is the 
most horrible that can be feared. Socrates, as he took 
the poisoned cup, blessed him that tearfully presented 
it ; Jesus, in the midst of a terrible punishment, prays 
for his unrelenting executioners. Yes, if the life and 
death of Socrates are those of a philosopher, the life and 
death of Jesus are those of a God ! " 



256 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

(b.) the philajstthkopin. 

Eousseau was only a tlieorizer in education. He did 
not undertake to put his views into practice. This was 
left for a group of educators who, from the name of the 
first school, are known in educational history as philan- 
thropinists. Most prominent of these were Basedow, 
Salzman, and Campe. Recognizing the defects of exist- 
ing schools, they all sought to carry out practically the 
reforms proposed by Comenius, Locke, and above all by 
Rousseau. In this undertaking they had the sympathy 
of a number of eminent men, among whom the philoso- 
pher Kant deserves especial mention. 

The current training of children has been thus por- 
trayed by Raumer : " Youth was then, for most children, 
a sorrowful period ; the instruction hard and heartlessly 
severe. Grammar was beat into the memory, and like- 
wise portions of Scripture and poetry. A common pun- 
ishment at school was to learn by heart the one hundred 
and nineteenth Psalm. School-rooms were gloomily 
dark. 'No one thought that youth could find pleasure 
in work, or tliat they had eyes for anything but reading 
and writing. The profligate age of Louis XI Y. imposed 
upon the poor children of the higher classes hair curled 
by the barber and smeared with powder and pomade, 
braided coats, knee-breeches, silk stockings, and a dag- 
ger at the side — for active, lively children the severest 
torture." 

The philanthropinists set themselves against these 
evils. The key-note of their system was everything ac- 
cording to nature. Some of its fundamental ideas, evi- 
dently drawn from Rousseau's w^ork, are thus set forth 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 257 

bj Basedow : " You should attend to nature in your 
children far more than to art. The elegant manners 
and usages of the world are, for the most part, contrary 
to nature. These come of themselves in later years. 
Treat children like children, that they may remain the 
longer uncorrupted. A boy, whose acutest faculties are 
his senses, and who has no perception of anything ab- 
stract, must first of all be made acquainted with the 
world as it presents itself to the senses. Let this be 
shown him in Nature itself, or, where this is impossible, 
in faithful drawings and models. He can thus, even in 
play, learn how the various objects are named. Co- 
menius alone has pointed out the right road in this mat- 
ter. By all means reduce the wretched exercises of the 
memory." 

Basedow, as the founder of the Philanthropin, is 
worthy of some consideration. He was bom at Ham- 
burg, in 1Y23. His youth was somewhat irregular. He 
studied theology at Leipsic, but his skeptical views pre- 
vented his ordination to the ministry. He turned to 
teaching. Having advocated educational reform in a 
work published in 1771, from which the extract above 
is taken, he was received under the patronage of the 
Prince of Dessau, and placed in charge of a school in 
which he was to exemplify his theories. His purpose is 
announced in the following appeal made in 1776, two 
years after the founding of the Philanthropin. " Send 
your children," he says, "to a happy youthful life in 
successful studies. This affair is not Catholic, Lutheran, 
or Reformed, but Christian. . . . We are philanthro- 
pists, or cosmopolites. The sovereignty of Russia or 
Denmark is not, in our teaching and judgment, placed 



258 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

after the freedom of S\vitzerland. . . . The end of edu- 
cation must be to form the European, whose life may be 
as harmless, useful, and contented as education can make 
it. It must, therefore, be provided (1) that little vexa- 
tion, pain, and disease await him, and (2) that he accus- 
tom himself to the careful enjoyment of the good. . . . 
The art of all arts is virtue and contentment. But few 
exercises for the virtues, as thev should be employed in 
education, have yet been invented. Hear, ye wise and 
philanthropic authors ! A plan for the methodical ex- 
ercise of the virtues in families and schools is one of 
the few weighty books to benefit all mankind. If we 
were rich, we would offer a prize of ten thousand dollars 
for the best book of this kind appearing within two 
years. 

" For the paternal religion of each pupil, the clergy 
of the place will provide ; but natural religion and mo- 
rahty is the chief part of philosophy, which we will see 
to ourselves. In the Philanthropin faith in God as the 
Creator, Preserver, and Lord of the universe is first in- 
culcated. . . . Little memorizing is done with us. The 
pupils are not forced to study, not even by reproof. 
Yet we promise, by the excellence of our method and 
its agreement with the philanthropinistic education and 
mode of hfe, to make double the progress in study that 
is common in schools and gymnasia. And especially do 
we promise much culture of sound reason through the 
use of a truly philosophical mode of thinking." 

The following extract, taken from an account of a 
visit to the Philanthropin, will give us some idea of the 
novelty and freedom of the methods pursued. The pu- 
pils were plainly dressed ; their hair was cut short ; their 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 259 

throats were quite open, the sliirt-collar falling back over 
the coat. " The little ones," says the writer of the ac- 
count in question, " have gone through the oddest per- 
formances. They play at ' word-of-command,' Eight 
or ten stand in a line like soldiers, and. Herr Wolke * is 
officer. He gives the word in Latin, and they must do 
whatsoever he says. For instance, when he says, ' Glau- 
dite oculos^ they all shut their eyes; when he says, 
' Gircumspicite,^ they look about them ; ' Imitamini 
sartorein^ they all sew like tailors ; ' Imitamini suto- 
rem^ they draw the waxed thread like the cobblers. 
Herr Wolke gives a thousand different commands in the 
drollest fashion. 

" Another game, ' the hiding-game,' I will teach you. 
Some one writes a name and hides it from the children 
— the name of some part of the body, or of a plant, or 
animal, or metal — and the childi'en guess what it is. 
Whoever guesses right gets an apple or a piece of cake. 
One of the visitors wrote intestina, and told the children 
it was a part of the body. Then the guessing began. 
One guessed caput, another nastcs, another os, another 
manus, pes, digiti, pectus, and so forth, for a long time ; 
but one of them hit it at last. Next Herr Wolke wrote 
the name of a beast, a quadruped. Then came the 
guesses — leo, ursus, camelus, elephas, and so on, till one 
guessed right ; it was mus. Then a town was written, 
and they guessed Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, London, till a 
child won with St. Petersburg. 

"They had another game, which was this: Herr 
Wolke gave the command in Latin, and they imitated 
the noises of different animals, and made us laugh tiU 

* One of Basedow's assistants. 



260 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE TRESENT TIME. 

we were tired. They roared like lions, crowed like 
cocks, mewed like cats, just as tkej were bid." 

The Philanthropin acquired a wide reputation, and 
it was visited by persons interested in education from 
various parts of Europe. The impression generally made 
was favorable, yet the results somehow did not answer 
to Basedow's confident manifesto. It seems that he 
himself was poorly adapted to carry on such an institu- 
tion. His methods, weU suited to young children, were 
prolonged into the period when more advanced and more 
systematic work should have been done. His teaching 
did not keep pace with the development of his pupils, 
and hence failed to fulfill the promise it had made in 
the beginning. The Philanthropin, which had natu- 
rally many opponents, was closed before the end of the 
century, yet not without leaving several similar institu- 
tions to survive it, through which it continued to exert 
a salutary influence upon education. 

Kant, who had at first predicted great results from 
the Philanthropin, was sadly disappointed ; and in his 
" Padagogik " he refers to it in an interesting passage. 
" One fancies indeed," he says, " that experiments in 
education would not be necessary, and that we might 
judge by the understanding whether any plan would 
turn out well or ill. But this is a great mistake. Ex- 
perience shows that often in our experiments we get 
quite opposite results from what we had anticipated. 
We see, too, that, since experiments are necessary, it is 
not in the power of one generation to form a complete 
plan of education. The only experimental school which, 
to some extent, made a beginning in clearing the road 
was the Institute at Dessau. This praise at least must 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 261 

be allowed it, notwithstanding the many faults which 
could be brought up against it — faults which are sure to 
show themselves when we come to the results of our 
experiments, and which merely prove that fresh experi- 
ments are necessary. It was the only school in which 
the teachers had hberty to work according to their own 
methods and schemes, and where they were in free com- 
munication both among themselves and with all learned 
men throughout Germany." 

(C.) THE HUMANISTS. 

It is now time to consider the humanistic movement 
of the eighteenth century, which made the study of 
classical antiquity the basis of all culture. It was a re- 
action in part against the ecclesiasticism which fostered 
the ancient languages only for the sake of theology, and 
in part against the realistic school represented by Co- 
menius, Rousseau, and especially the philanthropinists. 

The distinguishing characteristic of the humanists is 
the prominence which they give to Latin and Greek. 
These languages are made the basis of education ; and 
the attempt is made to justify this prominence by their 
value as a means of culture, and also as studies of prac- 
tical utility. It is maintained that the study of the an- 
cient languages is unequaled in disciplinary worth, and 
that the literatures of Greece and Rome contain incom- 
parable models of style. Hence, the study of Latin and 
Greek gives strength to the faculties and cultivation to 
the taste. It is further claimed that the study of Latin 
and Greek possesses great practical worth, inasmuch as 
it furnishes a valuable acquaintance with English ety- 
mology and general grammar, leads to a vast storehouse 



262 .FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

of knowledge, and gives a better understanding of the 
present, which has its roots in the past. The humanists 
are unsympathetic with the j)resent ; they depreciate the 
science, literature, and culture of modern times, and 
scarcely allow to Christian civilization any superiority 
over that of paganism in Kterary productions. 

The fundamental principles of the humanists have 
been given by Karl Schmidt : " 1. The ancient languages 
are the foundation of all true culture ; a knowledge of 
them makes the scholar ; hence they must he at the 
basis of all instruction, especially in the higher educa- 
tion. In itself considered, the study of language is a 
means of mental culture, and hence has disciplinary 
value. But it is also related to all departments of hu- 
man learning. Greek and Latin writings are the sources 
of all learning, and whoever would go to the fountain- 
head must be acquainted with these languages. The 
original documents of rehgion, Roman jurisprudence, 
the correct principles of medicine, philosophy, the prin- 
ciples and examples of rhetoric and poetry, history — all 
have come to us from Greece and Rome. ... 2. The 
study of grammar must precede that of philosophy, his- 
tory, £esthetics. Grammar is necessary to a thorough 
knowledge of language. The method used in teaching 
the modem languages does not suit with the ancient 
languages. A dead language is well spoken only by a 
few. This ability is far from being possessed by all 
good philologians. ... 3. A too early pursuit of the 
natural sciences is unfavorable to a thorough acquisition 
of languages, for the time given to the latter must be 
brief and dependent — adequate studies in them being 
deferred to riper years. The languages belong to the 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. . 263 

scliools, tlie sciences to the universities. 4. It is a mis. 
take to suppose that the study of the ancient languages 
is hui-tf ul to practical knowledge. The broadest scholars 
have the greatest respect for the ancients. It is not easy 
to name, in any nation, a distinguished author or scholar 
who is not indebted to the Greeks and Romans for his 
superior attainments. The too early pursuit of all pos- 
sible sciences at school results in shallow minds that are 
thorough in nothing. There is no thorough, scientific 
culture apart from the study of language." 

The contrast between humanism and philanthropin- 
ism has been sharply drawn by Methammer, a prominent 
humanist of the latter part of the eighteenth century : 
1. Humanism aims at general culture ; philanthropinism, 
at utility. 2. Humanism seeks to exercise and strengthen 
the mind ; philanthropinism, to fill it with useful knowl- 
edge. 3. Humanism demands but few subjects of study ; 
philanthropinism, many. 4. Humanism exercises the 
mind with ideas ; philanthropinism, with things. 5. Hu- 
manism deals with the true, the beautiful, and the good, 
the elements of human culture ; philanthropinism, with 
matter. 6. Humanism finds its subjects of study in clas- 
sical antiquity ; philanthropinism, in the present. 7. Hu- 
manism regards learning as a serious employment ; phi- 
lanthropinism makes it, as far as possible, an amusement. 
8. Humanism leads to thoroughness in a few things; 
philanthropinism, to superficiality in many. 9. Human- 
ism cultivates the memory, the repository of knowledge ; 
philanthropinism neglects it. 

The leading representatives of the humanistic tend- 
ency in the eighteenth century were Gesner, Heyne, 
Ernesti, and Wolf. They pursued the study of the an- 



264 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME, 

cient classics with great entlmsiasm and success, and 
succeeded in giving Greek a place by the side of Latin 
in the higher education. They raised Germany to the 
leadership) in classical learning — a position it has held 
ever since. The college curriculum of England and 
America has been largely influenced by the humanists. 
Their influence has been in the ascendant for a century, 
and it is only within the past few years that a strong 
reaction has set in and forced a partial readjustment of 
the college course. The fundamental principles of hu- 
manism have been brought into question, and subjected 
to both scientific and practical tests. Many of them are 
found to be in part or wholly fallacious. Our knowl- 
edge of the ancient world is not dependent upon an ac- 
quaintance with Latin and Greek. It is best obtained 
in the exhaustive labors of great historians who have 
embodied the results of their investigations in our own 
and other modern tongues. The treasures of ancient 
hterature — the immortal works of Yirgil and Homer, of 
Cicero and Demosthenes, of Horace and -^schylus — are 
accessible in scholarly translations, which we can read 
with the same satisfaction we enjoy in perusing the 
records of Moses, the songs of David, or the arguments 
of Paul. And the knowledge thus gained of ancient au- 
thors is far more satisfactory than that obtained by college" 
students, who struggle through inconsiderable fragments 
with grammar and dictionary. While there may be ques- 
tion as to the comparative excellence of style in ancient 
and modern writing, it is a fact beyond reasonable doubt 
that the vast extension of the field of knowledge in 
modem times — the development of science, the marvels 
of invention, the truths of Christianity — has made the 



ABSTRACT HUMAN EDUCATION. 265 

literature of tlie past two liuudred and fifty years greatly 
more valuable tlian that of antiquity. The current of 
thought, like a river, grows broader and deeper as it 
flows farther from its source. In view of the fact that 
the ancient languages are not the parents of German 
and English, but rather elder children of the same Aryan 
family, it is coming to be recognized that Latin and 
Greek have no monopoly of general grammar, and that 
the principles underlying the structure of language can 
be readily learned from the modern tongues. As the 
modern languages are not necessarily subject to the 
abuse of illegitimate helps, and as they call into active 
exeitjise every faculty of the student's mind in the three- 
fold work of translating, speaking, and hearing, they do 
not appear to be at all inferior to the ancient languages 
as disciplinary studies. 

It is now felt, too, that the modem world, in which 
we are to play our parts, should not be ignored in our 
courses of instruction. Considered in its external rela- 
tions, the end of education is to prepare us for useful 
living. Great nations are moving upon the stage of the 
nineteenth century; investigators are at work in aU 
Christian lands ; international relations are becoming 
closer each year ; the whole earth, bound together by 
telegraphs and commercial interests, daily challenges our 
thought. In view of these facts, many hold that it is not 
wise to require a young man to spend his best years in 
Greece and Rome as a preparation for intelligent living in 
the nineteenth century — the grandest that the world has 
seen. It leaves too large a gap between the college and 
practical life. Hence Latin and Greek, notwithstanding 
the stubborn resistance of the humanists, are being gradu- 



266 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

ally retii'ed from their former prominence to make way 
for the mother - tongue, the natural sciences, and the 
modern languages. 



7. Education in the Nineteenth Century. 

"We stand at the opening of the nineteenth century 
which has gathered within its embrace the fmits of all 
the labors, struggles, and sufferings of the past. The 
field of knowledge has not only been widened, but it 
has been brought within the reach of the masses. Mighty 
forces of N^ature have been brought into subjection to 
the will of man, and are made obedient servants in the 
cause of progress. The seeds of human liberty, sown in 
blood at the close of the last century, have sprung up 
into a beautiful harvest. The gospel has been dissemi- 
nated throughout nearly the whole world. The sentL 
ment of humanity has been awakened, and a serious 
calamity in any quarter instantly awakens a general and 
fruitful sympathy. Reason is asserting its rights in so- 
ciety and state, in science and art, while the law of love 
is more and more prevailing in all the relations of life. 

(a.) pestalozzi. 

At the threshold of this century stands an educator 
who commands both our admiration and love. In the 
long line of educational reformers since the Reforma- 
tion there is perhaps no other that has done so much for 
popular education. The devotion of his life, as well as 
the truth of his pedagogic principles, has been a power 
in the educational world. He was not distinguished for 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 267 

learning or ability; Ms were the higher talents of a 
noble enthusiasm for the elevation of our race, and an 
inexhaustible love for man. Following the example of 
our divine Master, he gave himself for the good of 
others. His labors and seK-sacrifices were not in vain. 
Through the noble devotion of his endeavors, he became 
the medium through which all that was best in educa- 
tional theory up to his time obtained permanent recog- 
nition. This great educator was John Henry Pestalozzi. 

The labors of previous educational reformers were 
not altogether fruitless. Here and there might be dis- 
cerned improvement in the schools. Some enhghtened 
rulers directed their attention to the subject of popular 
education ; and, as early as 171 7, Frederick AVilliam I. 
of Prussia published an edict of compulsory education. 
But, in general, it may be said that the primary schools 
of the eighteenth century remained in a wretched con- 
dition. The teachers were unsuccessful students, dis- 
abled workmen, discharged soldiers, and common serv- 
ants. They were held in light esteem, and received but 
httle pay. Schools were by no means general, and those 
that were opened were not regularly attended. The 
common people were lacking in educational interest, 
and looked upon the schools as a burden. While the 
clergy generally regarded themselves as the legitimate 
custodians of education, they paid no adequate attention 
to its interests. Many princes, behoving that general 
intelligence would increase the difficulty of ruling, were 
unfavorable to the education of the masses. A vast 
work yet remained to be accomplished. 

Pestalozzi, who was to contribute so largely to this 
work, was bom January 12, 1746, in the beautiful town 



268 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

of Ziirich. At six years of age he lost liis father. His 
mother was an excellent woman, but her tenderness was 
unfavorable to the development of strength of charac- 
ter. " I grew up," he sajs, " by the side of the best of 
mothers, as a mother's child. Year after year I never 
came out from behind the stove. In short, all means 
and stimulus for the development of manly strength, 
manly experience, manly ways of thinking, and manly 
practice, were wanting to me just in proportion as I 
needed them by the peculiarity and weakness of my in- 
dividual character." 

He did not distinguish himself at school; on the 
contrary, he became the butt of fun for his companions. 
" In all games," he says, " I was the most awkward and 
most helpless of all my schoolmates, and yet I vnshed 
to excel in them above the rest. That often gave them 
occasion to laugh at me. One of them gave me the 
nickname of HaiTy Queer, of Follyville. Most of them 
were pleased with my good temper and servieeableness, 
but they knew my one-sidedness and want of skill, and 
my thoughtlessness in everything which did not interest 
me much." 

His feelings were very strong. This fact, which was 
at the same time a source of weakness and of strength, 
is illustrated by the following anecdote : " When he was 
once in great pecuniary distress, and his family were 
without the necessaries of life, he went to the house of 
a friend and borrowed a sum of money. On his way 
home he fell in with a peasant, who was lamenting the 
loss of a cow. Carried away as usual by his feelings, 
Pestalozzi gave the man all the money he had borrowed, 
and ran away to escape his thanks." 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 269 

He was thoroughly injudicious. This fact was un- 
derstood by an intimate friend named BhmtschK, who 
upon his death-bed gave Pestalozzi, then a young man, 
the following advice: "I die," he said; "and, when 
you are left to yourself, I warn you never to embark 
in any career which, from your good-natured and con- 
fiding disposition, might become dangerous to you. 
Seek for a quiet, tranquil career ; and, unless you have 
at your side a man who will faithfully assist you with 
a calm, dispassionate knowledge of men and things, 
by no means embark in any extensive undertaking, 
the failure of wliich would in any way be perilous to 
you." 

Pestalozzi first studied theology, but, breaking down 
in his first sermon, he gave up the ministry for law. To 
this pursuit he did not long remain constant. In 1 767 
he purchased a farm of about one hundred acres, to 
which he gave the name Neuhof, and turned his atten- 
tion to agriculture. As might be expected from what 
we already know of his character, the enterprise was a 
failure. At an earlier period he had perused Rousseau's 
" Emile," which made a profound impression upon him. 
Unmindful of his own financial embarrassment, moved 
by sympathy for the suffering ones around him, he 
opened an industrial school for the poor. He soon had 
fifty children under his charge to provide for. His plan 
was to eombiue study with remunerative labor. But 
after five years the school was closed, in 17S0, leaving 
Pestalozzi heavily involved in debt, but greatly enriched 
in educational experience. This was his consolation : 
" The Christian in the strength of faith and love," he 
says, " considers his property not as a gift but as a trust. 



270 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

whicli has been committed to Ms hand, that he may use 
it for the good of others." 

The next few years were devoted chiefly to author- 
ship as a means of obtaining subsistence. He produced 
several works in which he advanced his educational 
ideas, and through which he has exerted a lasting influ- 
ence upon education. But we follow him in his work 
as a practical educator. In 1798 Stanz, a town on Lake 
Lucerne, was burned by the French. The whole sur- 
rounding district was laid waste, and a number of or- 
phans were left destitute and homeless. Upon the 
recommendation of the Swiss directors, Pestalozzi went 
thither to look after them. "With only one servant he 
estabhshed himself in an unfinished convent, and soon 
had eighty children under his care. They composed a 
heterogeneous mass that would have been appalling to 
any one with less enthusiasm than Pestalozzi. He ad- 
dressed himself with almost superhuman zeal to the 
work of imj)roving their condition. " Every assistance," 
he says, " everything done for them in their need, aU 
the teaching that they received, came directly from me ; 
my hand lay on their hand, my eye rested on their eye. 
My tears flowed with theirs, and my smile accompanied 
theirs. Their food was mine, and their drink was mine. 
I had nothing, no housekeeping, no friends, no servants ; 
I had them alone. I slept in their midst ; I was the last 
to go to bed at night, and the first to rise in the morn- 
ing. I prayed with them, and taught them in bed be- 
fore they went to sleep." This is an unselfish devotion 
that makes us forget many defects of character. 

" His school-room," says a biographer, " was totally 
unprovided with books, and his apparatus consisted of 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 271 

himself and his pupils. He was forced to adapt these 
means to the accomplishment of his end. He directed 
his whole attention to those natural elements which are 
found in the mind of every child. He taught numbers 
instead of figures ; living sounds instead of dead charac- 
ters ; deeds of faith and love instead of abstruse creeds ; 
substance instead of shadow ; realities instead of signs." 
' In the space of a few months Pestalozzi wrought a 
great change in the physical, mental, and moral condition 
of his pupils. They no longer seemed the same beings. 
The high hopes of the noble enthusiast, however, were 
again doomed to disappointment. In less than a year 
the French army returned to Stanz, and unceremoniously 
took possession of the convent. ]^o choice was left Pes- 
talozzi. He was obliged to relinquish his labors, and 
parted from his children with tears and sobs. "Im- 
agine," he writes to a friend, " with what sensations I 
left Stanz. Thus might feel a shipwrecked mariner, 
who sees land after weary and restless nights, and draws 
the breath of coming life, but is again thrown into the 
immensity of space. This was my own condition. Think 
of the fullness of my heart, the greatness of my plans, 
my success and my ruin, the trembhng of my disordered 
nerves, and my mute agony." 

In the course of a few weeks he entered a school at 
Burgdorf as assistant teacher. He carried with him his 
old enthusiasm and his old disregard for stereotyped 
methods. Ramsauer, then a pupil in the school and 
afterward a faithful assistant of Pestalozzi's, has given 
us an account of the Burgdorf school. He says : " I got 
about as much regular schoohng as the other scholars — 
which, in fact, was none at all ; but Pestalozzi's sacred 



272 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

zeal, his devoted love, which caused him to be entirely 
unmindful of himself, his serious and depressed state of 
mind, which struck even the children, made the deepest 
impression on me, and knit my child-Hke and grateful 
heart to his forever." Though he was the subject of 
envy and intrigue, Pestalozzi's labors at Burgdorf were 
not left wholly without recognition. The school com- 
mittee of that town expressed themselves in a report aS 
follows : " He has shown what powers are hidden in the 
feeble child, and in what manner they can be developed. 
The pupils have made astonishing progress in some 
branches, thereby proving that every child is capable of 
doing something, if the teacher is able to draw out his 
talent, and awaken the powers of his mind in the order 
of their natural development." 

In 1805 he opened a school at Yverdun. Here he 
attained his greatest triumphs. He achieved a European 
reputation, and kings and philosophers united in show- 
ing him regard. Yverdun became a place of pilgrimage 
for philanthropists and educators from all parts of Eu- 
rope. In 1809 Pestalozzi had under him fifteen teach- 
ers and one hundred and sixty -five pupils, besides thirty, 
five adult students, who were there to learn his methods. 
The spirit animating the institution has thus been de- 
scribed by an eye witness : " The teachers and pupils 
were united by that unaffected love which Pestalozzi, 
who in years was a man verging on the grave, but in 
heart and mind a genuine child, seemed to breathe out 
continually and impart to all who came within his influ- 
ence. The children forgot that they had another home, 
and the teachers that there was any other world than 
the institution. Not a man claimed a privilege for him- 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 273 

self, not one wished to be considered above others. 
Teachers and pupils were entirely united. They not 
only slept in the same rooms, and shared the labors and 
enjoyments of the day, but they were on a footing of 
perfect equality. The same man who read a lecture on 
history one hour would, perhaps, during the next sit on 
the same form with the pupils for a lesson in arithmetic 
or geometry, and without compromising his dignity 
would even request their assistance and receive their 
hints." 

In reference to his work here, Pestalozzi himself 
writes : " The difficulties that opposed my enterprise in 
the beginning were very great. Public opinion was 
wholly against me. Thousands looked upon my work 
as quackery, and nearly all who believed themselves 
competent judges declared it worthless. Some con- 
demned it as silly mechanism ; some looked upon it as 
mere memorizing, while others contended that it neg- 
lected the memory for the sake of the understanding ; 
some accused me of a want of religion, and others of 
revolutionizing intentions. But, thank God, all these 
objections have been overcome. The children of our 
institution are full of joy and happiness ; their innocence 
is guarded ; their religions f eehngs are fostered ; their 
minds are cultivated ; their knowledge increased ; their 
hearts inspired with a love of virtue. The whole is per- 
vaded by the great spirit of home-union ; a pure fatherly 
and brotherly spirit rules all. The children feel free ; 
their activity is incited by their occupations ; affection 
and confidence elevate and guide their hearts." 

In the midst of his success, Pestalozzi still retained 
his touching simplicity and seK-forgetfuIness. On one 



274 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

occasion " a poor young man had traveled on foot a long 
distance to pay liis tribute of respect and admiration to 
Pestalozzi ; but, upon arriving at Yverdun, he found 
himself so reduced that he could not pay for a night's 
lodging at the hotel. Pestalozzi, not wishing to disturb 
the household, offered his own bed to the wearied guest. 
Some friends, calling at his room soon after, were aston- 
ished to see his bed occupied by a stranger. Alarmed 
by his absence they went in search of him, and found 
him at last stretched on one of the hard benches of the 
school-room in sound sleep, and totally unconscious that 
he had done anything but his duty." 

At Yverdun Pestalozzi lost, in 1815, the noble wife 
who had stood faithfully by his side through the labors 
and trials of nearly fifty years. At the burial, Pesta- 
lozzi, turning to the coffin, said with great tenderness : 
" We were shunned and despised by all ; sickness and 
poverty bowed us down, and we ate dry bread with 
tears. What was it that in those days of severe trial 
gave you and me strength to persevere and not lose 
hope ? " Then laying a Bible on the breast of the de- 
parted, he continued : " From this source you and I 
drew courage and strength and peace." 

The sun of Pestalozzi's life, which had shone brightly 
for a little while in the afternoon, was to set in clouds. 
Discord broke out at length among the teachers at Yver- 
dun. After disturbing the peace and prosperity of the 
school for a long time, it led at last, in 1825, to its sus- 
pension. Pestalozzi returned to l^euhof, where he was 
prostrated with a fever. He died February 17, 1827. 
During his last hours he said : " I forgive my enemies ; 
may they find peace, now that I go to my rest. I should 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 275 

have been glad to live anotter montli, in order to com- 
plete my last work ; but I also thank God for calling 
me away from this life. My beloved family, remain at- 
tached to one another, and seek your happiness in the 
quietness of your domestic circle." Subject to disap- 
pointment all his days, his life was still a great triumph. 
It was spent in unselfish devotion to the good of others ; 
and, like that of the blessed Master who went about 
doing good, it has borne a rich fruitage for the world. 

The object of our study thus far has been chiefly to 
gain a clear knowledge of the man. We now turn to a 
brief examination of some of his educational principles, 
as embodied in his leading works, viz. : " Evening Hour 
of a Hermit," "Leonard and Gertrude," and "How 
Gertrude teaches her Children." He rejected the cur- 
rent humanistic word - teaching. "A man," he says, 
" who has only word-wisdom is less susceptible to the 
truth than a savage. The use of mere words produces 
men who believe that they have reached the goal, be- 
cause their whole life has been spent in talking about it, 
but who never ran toward it, because no motive impelled 
them to make the effort ; hence, I come to the convic- 
tion that the fundamental error — the blind use of words 
in matters of instruction — must be extirpated before it 
is possible to resuscitate life and truth." 

The educational conception that lies at the basis of 
Pestalozzi's system is that of a natural, progressive, and 
symmetrical development of all the powers and facul- 
ties of the human being. This is the completest and 
grandest conception of education. " Sound education," 
says Pestalozzi, " stands before me symbolized by a tree 
planted near fertihzing waters. A Kttle seed, which 



276 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

contains tlie design of the tree, its form and proportions, 
is placed in the soil. See how it germinates and ex- 
pands into trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit! 
The whole tree is an uninterrupted chain of organic 
parts, the plan of which existed in its seed and root. 
Man is similar to the tree. In the new-bom child are 
hidden those faculties which are to unfold during life. 
The individual and separate organs of his being form 
themselves gradually into an harmonic whole, and build 
up humanity in the image of God." 

Pestalozzi beautifully emphasizes in reference to the 
higher exercises of the mind the principle of Comenius 
that "things to be done should be learned by doing 
them." " The moral, intellectual, and executive powers 
of man," he says, "must be nurtured within himself, 
and not from artificial substitutes. Thus, faith must be 
cultivated by our own act of believing, not by reasoning 
about faith ; love, by our own act of loving, not by fine 
words about love ; thought, by our own act of thinking, 
not by merely appropriating the thoughts of other men ; 
and knowledge, by our own investigation, not by endless 
talk about the results of art and science." 

A natural order is to be observed in education. 
"Men, fathers!" Pestalozzi exclaims, "force not the 
faculties of your children into paths too distant before 
they have attained strength by exercise, and avoid harsh- 
ness and over-fatigue. When this right order of pro- 
ceedings is anticipated, the faculties of the mind are 
weakened and lose their steadiness, and the equipoise of 
their structure. This you do when, before making them 
sensitive to truth and wisdom by the real knowledge of 
actual objects, you engage them in the thousand- fold 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 277 

confusions of word-learning and opinions ; and lay the 
foundation of their mental character and of the first de- 
termination of their powers, instead of truth and actual 
objects, with sounds and speech — and words." 

The fundamental principles of Pestalozzi, most of 
which are contained in the extracts already given from 
his writings, have been summarized by Payne substan- 
tially as follows : 

1. The principles of education are to be sought in 
human nature. 

2. This nature is organic, consisting of p/iysical, in- 
tellectual, and moral capabilities, ready and struggling 
to develop themselves. 

3. The function of the educator is both negative and 
positive. He must remove impediments to the learner's 
development, and he must also stimulate the exercise of 
his powers. 

4. Self-development begins with sensations received 
through the senses. These sensations lead to percep- 
tions which, registered in the mind as conceptions or 
ideas, constitute the basis of knowledge. 

5. " Spontaneity and self -activity are the necessary 
conditions under which the mind educates itself, and 
gains power and independence." 

6. Practical aptness depends more on exercise than 
on knowledge. "Knowing and doing must, however, 
proceed together. The chief aim of education is the 
development of the learner's powers." 

7. All education must be based on the learner's own 
observation— on his own personal experience. " This is 
the true basis of all knowledge. The opposite proceed- 
ing leads to empty, hollow, delusive word-knowledge. 



278 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

First the reality, then the symbol ; first the thing, then 
the word." 

8. What the learner has gained by his own observa- 
tion has become an actual possession which he can ex- 
plain or describe in his own words. His abihty to do 
this is the measm*e of the accuracy and extent of his 
knowledge. 

9. The learner's growth necessitates advancement 
from the near and actual to the more remote ; hence, 
from the concrete to the abstract, from particulars to 
generals, from the known to the unknown. 

With this summary of principles, which are gradu- 
ally permeating and changing modern education, we 
leave Pestalozzi, whom, notwithstanding his imperfec- 
tions, we can not help loving. And this is the highest 
tribute which one being, whether himian or divine, can 
pay another. 

(b.) fkoebel and the eindekgaeten. 

One of the most illustrious disciples of Pestalozzi 
was Frederick Froebel, who was born in Thuringia, in 
1782. He was the son of a Lutheran clergyman, who 
was so occupied in caring for a large parish that he neg- 
lected his son. Having early lost his mother, he was in- 
trusted to the care of a maid-servant, who exercised as 
little oversight as possible. The step-mother, that came 
into the house in his fourth year, became gradually 
estranged from him, and filled his young heart with 
grief. 

In due time he entered the village school to receive 
his rudimentary education. The religious instruction he 
here received made a deep impression. The older 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 279 

pupils were required to repeat to the younger ones some 
text of Scripture occurring in the sermon on Sunday. 
Troebel entered school on Monday ; the passage for the 
week was, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God." " I 
heard these words," he says, " repeated every day in a 
quiet, earnest, somewhat sing-song, childish tone, now 
by one, now by the whole. The verse made an impres- 
sion on me hke nothing before or since. Indeed, tliis 
impression was so lively and deep, that to-day every 
word lives freshly in my memory with the pecuhar ac- 
cent with which it was spoken ; and yet since that time 
nearly forty years have elapsed. Perhaps the simple 
child's soul felt in these words the source and salvation 
of his life. Indeed, that conviction became to the strug- 
glmg, striving man a source of inexhaustible courage, of 
always unimpaired joy, and willingness in self-consecra- 
tion. Enough to say, my entrance into this school was 
for me the birth to a higher spiritual life." 

Froebel's local surroundings tended to bring him 
into sympathy with IS'ature. The woods possessed a 
charm for him ; and in hours of leisure he loved to steal 
away to loiter by babbling brooks, to gather flowers, to 
listen to the songs of birds, to watch the movements of 
animals, and to catch the sighing of winds through the 
trees. His father's house was closely hemmed in by 
other buildings. " I was thus deprived," he says, " of a 
distant view ; only above me I saw the clear sky of the 
mountain-region, and felt around me the pure fresh air. 
The impression which this clear sky and this pure air 
made upon me has continuously remained present with 
me. My observation was truly directed on what was 
near me in Nature ; the plant and flower world became, 



280 FEOM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

SO far as I could see and toucli it, an object «f my con- 
templation and thought." 

At ten years of age he went to live with an uncle, 
whose home was pervaded with a spirit of kindness and 
benevolence. To a boy of warm, generous nature, who 
had been accustomed only to austerity under the parental 
roof, this was peculiarly grateful. He developed bodily 
strength ; his sympathy with N^ature became more pro- 
found and intelligent, and the warmth of his religious 
life amounted at times to enthusiasm. He entered the 
town school of Stadt-Ilm, where his uncle lived. The 
teacher, "a regular driller of the old, time -honored 
stamp, had not the shghtest conception of the inner na- 
ture of his pupil," says Payne, " and seems to have taken 
no pains whatever to discover it. He pronounced the 
boy to be idle (which, from his point of view, was quite 
true) and lazy (which certainly was not true) — a boy, in 
short, you could do nothing with. And, in fact, the 
teacher did nothing with his pupil, never once touched 
the chords of his inner being, or brought out the music 
they were fitted, under different handhng, to produce. 
Froebel was indeed, at that time, a thoughtful, dreamy 
child, a very indifferent student of books, cordially hat- 
ing the formal lessons with which he was crammed, and 
never so happy as when left alone with his great teacher 
in the woods." 

At the age of fifteen he became a forester's appren- 
tice. This man, though possessed of extensive knowl- 
edge, was too busy to give his protege the promised in- 
struction. Thrown upon his own resources, Froebel did 
the best he could with the forester's books in teaching 
himself. From a physician in a neighboring town he 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 281 

borrowed botanical books, bj means of wliicb he en- 
larged his acquaintance with the vegetable kingdom. 
" I used the long time of the forester's absence," he says, 
" during which I was left entirely to myself, for draw- 
ing a kind of map of the district in which I lived; 
botany, however, busied me chiefly. My church religion 
changed into a rehgious life in Nature, and in the last 
half-year I lived entirely in and with plants, which at- 
tracted me wonderfully, without, however, the meaning 
of the inner life of the plant-world yet dawning on me. 
The collecting and drying of plants I carried on with 
the greatest zeal. This time, in manifold ways, was de- 
voted to my self-education, self information, and eleva- 
tion." 

In 1799 Froebel entered the University of Jena, 
where he attended lectures on mathematics, botany, nat- 
ural history, physics, chemistry, the science of finance, 
forest matters, and architecture. " In botany," he says, " I 
had a sensible, loving, and benevolent teacher. Through 
him my insight into Nature was essentially quickened, 
and my love for observing it made more active. I shall 
always think of this man with gratitude." Having 
loaned a part of his means to his brother, Froebel be- 
came involved in debt at the university ; and, being un- 
able for a time to make payment, he suffered imprison- 
ment for nine weeks, obtaining his freedom in the sum- 
mer of 1801. 

The next several years were spent in various employ- 
ments without yielding him either much profit or peace 
of mind. He had not yet found the sphere for which 
Nature had fitted him. In 1805 we find him in Frank- 
fort with an architect ; but, failing to see clearly how he 



282 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

could accomplisli anytliing through architecture for the 
ennobling of man, his position did not give him satis- 
faction. At length the turning-point in his life came. 
One day Gruner, the principal of a model school, just 
established at Frankfort, said to him : " Give up archi- 
tecture ; it is not for you. Become an educator. We 
need a teacher in our school. Make up your mind, and 
you shall have the place." After some hesitation he 
accepted the position; and the ecstasy he felt, as he 
stood for the first time in the presence of the school, 
convinced him that he had found his place. To use his 
own expression, " The fish was in the water." 

In 1808 he went to Yverdun, and spent two years 
with Pestalozzi. He took with him three pupils, of 
whom he had charge as tutor. " Thus it happened," he 
says, " that 1 was there both as teacher and scholar, edu- 
cator and pupil. In order to be fully and perfectly 
placed in the midst and heart of Pestalozzi's work, I 
wished to reside with my pupils in the building of the 
institution, in the castle so called. We wished to share 
everything with the rest ; but this wish was not granted 
us, for strange selfishness interfered. Yet I soon came 
to dwell as near the institution as possible, so that we 
shared dinner, afternoon lunch, and supper, the instruc- 
tion adapted to us, and the whole life of the pupils. I 
for myself had nothing more serious to do than to allow 
my pupils to take a full share of that life, strengthening 
spirit and body. With this aim we shared all instruc- 
tion, and it was a special care to me to talk with Pesta- 
lozzi on every subject from its first point of connection, 
to learn to know it from its foundation." He thus be- 
came thoroughly acquainted with Pestalozzi's system. 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 283 

wMcli in its essential features he cordially adopted, but 
which he also supplemented and improved. 

Afterward feeling the necessity of increasing his 
store of knowledge, he studied at the Universities of 
Gottingen and Berlin. In 1813 he joined the Prussian 
army, and took an active part in the campaign against 
Napoleon. After the close of the war he estabHshed a 
school at Keilhau, in which he followed " the principle 
of cultivating the self-activity of the pupil by connect- 
ing manual labor with every study." But after a varied 
experience, extending through fifteen years, the convic- 
tion fixed itself upon him that a change in the earhest 
methods of instruction was necessary to a thorough edu- 
cational reform. This brings us to the Kindergarten^ 
upon which the fame of Froebel chiefly rests. 

Carefully considering the ways of children, Froebel 
saw that they delight in movement ; that they use their 
senses ; that they observe ; that they invent and con- 
struct. All this activity he proposed to turn to account 
in the interest of education. He said : " I can convert 
children's activities, energies, amusements, occupations, 
all that goes by the name of play, into instruments for 
my purpose, and therefore transform play into work. 
This work will be education in the true sense of the 
term. The conception of it as such I have gained from 
the children themselves. They have taught me how I 
am to teach them." 

The Kindergarten is a school which receives children 
at a very early age, and by systematizing their plays, 
directing their activity, and giving order to their ideas, 
develops their faculties harmoniously, and prepares them 
for the work of the ordinary school. The object of the 



284 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

Kindergarten, as expressed by Froebel himself, is as fol- 
lows : " It shall receive children before the usual school 
age, give them employment suited to their nature, 
strengthen their bodies, exercise their senses, employ 
the waking mind, make them acquainted judiciously 
with Nature and society, cultivate especially the heart 
and temper, and lead them to the foundation of all hv- 
ing — to unity with themselves." 

The physical nature of the child is developed by 
calisthenic exercises ; its social instincts are strengthened 
by association with companions in amusements and 
work ; its senses are cultivated by means of playthings, 
called gifts, such as balls, cylinders, cones, variously dis- 
sected cubes, quadrilateral and triangular tablets, sticks, 
and mats for weaving ; and its mind is exercised by the 
imitative or inventive uses it is taught to make of these 
objects. 

The effects of the Eandergarten training have been 
thus summed up by an English lecturer: "What the 
Kindergarten has to show are happy, healthy, good- 
natured children ; no proficiency in learning of any 
kind, no precocity ; but just children in their normal 
state. The Kindergarten rejects reading, writing, cipher- 
ing, spelling. In it children under six build, plait, fold, 
model, sing, act ; in short, they learn in play to work, 
to construct, to invent, to relate and speak correctly, 
and what is best of all — to love each other, to be kind 
to each other, to help each other." 

It is interesting to look behind a great work to dis- 
cover the spirit of the author, and it is also important 
to examine the principles upon which it rests. Froebel, 
like his illustrious master, Pestalozzi, was animated by a 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 285 

profound love for humanity. Tliis gave to Ms endeavors 
an exalted character. " The fame of kaowledge," it was 
said over his grave, " was not his ambition. Glowing 
love for mankind, for the people, left him neither rest 
nor quiet. After he had offered his life for his native 
land in the wars of freedom, he turned with the same 
enthusiasm wliich surrenders and sacrifices for the high- 
est thought, to the aim of cultivating the people and 
youth, founded the celebrated institution at Keilhau 
among his native mountains, and talked and planted in 
the domain of men's hearts. And how many brave 
men he has educated, who honor his memory and bless 
his name ! " 

Froebel accepted the great body of Pestalozzi's edu- 
cational principles. He held that education is a har- 
monious development of the human faculties ; that its 
principles are to be found in a study of Kature ; that de- 
velopment depends upon the self -activity of the learner ; 
and that observation is the basis of knowledge. In ref- 
erence to education as a development, he says with ve- 
hemence : " All that does not grow out of one's inner 
being, all that is not one's own original feeling and 
thought, or at least awakens that, oppresses and defaces 
the individuality of man instead of calling it forth, and 
Nature becomes thereby a caricature. Shall we never 
cease to stamp human nature, even in childhood, like 
coins, to overlay it with foreign' images and foreign 
superscriptions instead of letting it develop itself and 
grow into form according to the law of life planted in 
it by God the Father, so that it may be able to bear the 
stamp of the Divine, and become an image of God? 
For hundreds of years we Germans especially, through 



286 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

imitation of foreign nations, have worn these fetters, 
which do not allow the deepest nature of the people or 
of individuals to move and unfold freely." 

In several points, however, Froebel has supplemented 
the principles of Pestalozzi. He recognized the imprac- 
ticability of the domestic training for early childhood 
which Pestalozzi so warmly advocated. Most mothers 
have neither the time nor qualifications to give this 
training. And, appreciating the importance of it, Froe- 
bel devised the Kindergarten, which supphes a veritable 
want in education. 

He further placed more emphasis on the productive 
seK-activity of the child than Pestalozzi did. All knowl- 
edge gained is utilized at once in some form of product- 
iveness. In the language of Dr. W. N. Hailman: 
" Every new intuition is to be used in new forms of 
expression, and to be combined in every possible man- 
ner with previous acquisitions, in more and more com- 
plicated, more and more directly useful productions. 
He keeps the learner ever busy, imitating and inventing 
with the ever-increasing stock of knowledge ; and ever 
increasing the stock of ideas with the aid of imitations 
and inventions." 

Froebel was also the first to appreciate fully the 
value of women as educators. In many respects women 
are better fitted for instructing children than men are. 
They have greater tenderness, a deeper sympathy, a 
keener perception, greater adaptability to childish ways, 
and at the same time they are more graceful and win- 
ning. " The destiny of nations," Froebel often repeated, 
" lies far more in the hands of women — the mothers — 
than in the possessors of power, or of those innovators 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 287 

who for the most part do not understand themselves. 
We must cultivate women, who are the educators of the 
human race, else the new generation can not accomplish 
its task." He regarded women as his natural allies in 
his educational reforms, and to his appeals they have 
responded nobly. It is chiefly through their agency 
that his reforms have been promoted in both America 
and Europe. Fortunate is the cause that enlists the 
hearty interest and support of women ! 

The leading ideas in Froebel's educational system 
have been summed up as follows : 

" 1. The task of education is to assist natural devel- 
opment toward its destined end. As the child's devel- 
opment begins with its first breath, so must its education 
also. 

" 2. As the beginning gives a bias to the whole after- 
development, so the early beginnings of education ai-e 
of most importance. 

" 3. The spiritual and physical development do not 
go on separately in childhood, but the two are closely 
bound up with each other. 

" 4. Early education must deal directly with the 
physical development, and influence the spiritual devel- 
opment through the exercise of the senses. 

" 5. The right mode of procedure in the exercise of 
these organs is indicated by nature in the utterances of 
the child's instincts, and through these alone can a natu- 
ral basis of education be found. 

" 6. The instincts of the child, as a being destined 
to become reasonable, express not only physical but also 
spiritual wants. Education has to satisfy both. 

" T. The development of the limbs by means of 



288 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

movement is the first that takes place, and therefore 
claims our first attention. 

" 8. Physical impressions are at the beginning of 
life the only possible medium for awakening the child's 
soul. These impressions should, therefore, be regulated 
as systematically as is the care of the body, and not be 
left to chance." 

Froebel died June 21, 1852. " Like all seK-educated 
persons," says a biographer, " he was deficient in logical 
clearness, especially in writing, when a flood of ideas 
overwhelmed him ; as a practical teacher, he was won- 
derfully impressive and clear. Awkward in appearance, 
indifferent to the conventionalities of life, and always 
filled with one interest, one range of ideas and efforts, 
he nevertheless exerted on all genuine educators who 
came in contact with him, irrespective of creed, station 
in life, or party, an almost magical influence. Although 
a devout Chiistian and religionist, he was entirely un- 
sectarian ; although a revolutionary thinker in most re- 
spects, he kept free from all attempts at practical revo- 
lution ; although a cosmopolitan and lover of mankind, 
he was an ardent national German; and, although in 
theory he was most uncritical, in speech incoherent and 
hardly intelligible, his system of methods for the devel- 
opment of the mind is eminently practical, systematic, 
and effective." 

(C.) CONTEMPORAKT EDUCATION. 

There can be no doubt that education is now receiv- 
ing far more attention than at any period in the past, 
and that it is rapidly becoming universal. Since the 
American and the French Revolution, the masses of the 



EDUCATION m THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 289 

people in all Cliristiaii lands have been rising in impor- 
tance. Popular intelligence is everywhere reckoned 
an element of national power and wealth, and the sta- 
bility of republics is recognized as resting upon the 
knowledge and virtue of the people. The worth of 
woman is appreciated now as never before, l^o longer 
held in the base subjection of heathen countries, and ex- 
cluded from the blessings of culture, she now enjoys, in 
all enlightened nations, excellent facilities for education. 
Her sphere is growing larger; her education goes be- 
yond a narrow circle of dainty accomphshments ; and 
with cultivated mind she takes a place of wide influence 
in society, and stands by her husband as his friend, his 
counselor, and his equal. 

No civihzed nation now fails to make provision, to 
a greater or less degree, for the instruction of the peo- 
ple. Even the unprogressive nations of the Orient are 
affected by the Christian education of the West. Cliina, 
with its strange conservatism, is relaxing its former 
rigor against foreign institutions. Many schools have 
been established by Christian missionaries, especially of 
the Catholic Chui'ch ; and, besides a workshop at Shang- 
hai, and a polytechnic school in the province of Futs- 
chien conducted by foreign teachers, a university on 
the European plan was opened at Peking in 1868 imder 
imperial patronage. Japan has been thoroughly mod- 
ernized in education. Since 1872 that country has had 
a comprehensive school system, including primary 
schools, academies, normal schools, colleges, and univer- 
sities. These schools, modeled chiefly after those of 
America, are suppUed with modern furniture and appa- 
ratus, and are conducted upon scientific methods. Both 

13 



290 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

sexes have the same educational advantages tip to the 
normal school. The courses of instruction are substan- 
tially the same as in schools of corresponding grade in 
Europe and America, save that English and other mod- 
ern languages take the place of Latin and Greek. India 
is gradually receiving at the hands of England an educa- 
tional system extending from elementary schools to col- 
leges and universities. Pubhc instruction now forms a 
department of the government, and a network of schools 
is being extended by degrees over the whole country. 
Some institutions are entirely supported by the govern- 
ment, while others, established by local effort or mis- 
sionary zeal, receive grants in aid. In the elementary 
schools, the vernacular is chiefly employed, but in the 
secondary schools English is taught and used in daily 
intercourse. Female education has but made a begin- 
ning. In 1882 the total number of educational institu- 
tions of all sorts in British India was 112,218, attended 
by an aggregate of 2,643,978 pupils, showing an aver- 
age of one school to every twelve square miles, and ten 
pupils to every thousand of the population. In the 
same year the total expenditure upon education by the 
government was about $6,440,000. Persia and Egypt, 
though languishing under Mohammedan rule, have to 
some extent imported European educational ideas. 

But it is in Europe and America that the tendencies 
toward universal education have manifested themselves 
most fully, and accomplished the greatest results. Though 
as a rule Cathohc countries have lagged behind, every 
Christian nation now provides with tolerable complete- 
ness for popular instruction. Greece and Italy have 
adopted in the present century systems of education 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 291 

more compreliensive and useful than, were ever contem- 
plated by Plato and Quintilian. Germany, France, Bel- 
gium, Denmark, ]^orway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal — all 
have at present some system of popular education ; and 
most of them Lave adopted the system of compulsory 
attendance. During the past two decades England has 
shown great interest in popular education, and granted 
annually, in connection with a system of thorough in- 
spection, ever-increasing subsidies to pubKc schools. 
The educational systems of several of these countries 
will be considered more in detail. 

(d.) geemany. 

In no country has education received more attention, 
or produced, upon the whole, better results, than in Ger- 
many. Though in subjection to the social conditions 
belonging to a monarchical form of government, the 
German system embodies many points of excellence. In 
the science and history of education, the Germans are in 
the lead. The principles of Pestalozzi, which found 
able advocates in all parts of Germany, have permeated 
the primary schools, and given a great impulse to the 
professional training of teachers. Teaching is recog- 
nized as a profession ; and no one, who has not received 
special training and passed a satisfactory examination, is 
allowed to teach in either public or private schools. As 
a result of this rigorous system, Germany has a body of 
teachers admirably qualified for their work. 

The existing interest in primary education in Ger- 
many dates from the opening of the present century. 
Ilumihated by the wars of Napoleon, Germany felt the 
necessity of developing greater internal strength. Fred- 



292 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

erick William III. addressed tlie following wise words 
to the German people : " We have indeed lost in terri- 
tory, and fallen in external power and splendor, but we 
must see to it that we gain in internal power and splen- 
dor ; and hence it is my earnest desire that the greatest 
attention be given to the instruction of the people." 
He was nobly seconded by able ministers, and the pres- 
ent educational system, in its essential features, was de- 
vised. 

Education is an interest wholly in the hands of the 
government. The general supervision of educational 
affairs is intmsted to a Minister of Public Instruction, 
who is assisted by school boards in the several provinces, 
regencies, and districts of the state. The course of study, 
the text-books used, the methods of instruction, the ex- 
amination and appointment of teachers, the supervision 
of the schools — everything is directly or indirectly under 
the control of the general government. The school- 
buildings, many of which were constructed for other 
purposes during the last century, are generally massive 
structures of stone or brick. Defective in ventilation 
and light, and furnished only with plain and often un- 
comfortable desks, these buildings are not models of 
school-architecture. The schools are well supplied with 
maps, charts, globes, and other apparatus, which the 
teacher employs judiciously in giving instruction. 

The educational system of Germany embraces, under 
various names, thi*ee grades of schools, all of which have 
received a high degree of development. The primary 
schools ( Yolksscftulen), which are brought within reach 
of the whole population, give instruction in religion 
(catechism and Bible history), reading, writing, arith- 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 293 

metic, geography, natural history, singing, and gym- 
nastics. The instruction, which is imparted in accord- 
ance with recent scientific methods, is very thorough. 
All children are required to enter school at seven years 
of age, and to continue their attendance till fourteen, at 
which time they are usually confirmed as members of 
the state Church. Through the successful enforcement 
of the compulsory system, the percentage of illiteracy is 
lower in Germany than in any other country of Europe. 
In 18T2 the number of illiterates in the army was 4.6 
per cent, and in the navy 2.3 per cent, while the corre- 
sponding numbers in France were 23 and 14 per cent. 
In Saxony, Thuringia, Baden, and some other portions 
of Germany, the illiterates among the recruits do not 
amount to one per cent ; and out of six thousand re- 
cruits in Wiirtemberg there was only one that could not 
read. Primary instruction is much better among the 
Protestants than among the Catholics. 

Secondary instruction is given in the gymnasia and 
the real-schools. The gymnasia, which give great 
■prominence to Latin and Greek, are designed to pre- 
pare students for the university and the professions. 
The real-schools, which attach importance to the mother- 
tongue, mathematics, natural sciences, and modern lan- 
guages, aim to fit their students for the ordinary busi- 
ness callings of Hfe. As the gymnasia are humanistic 
and the real-schools practical, they have been the occa- 
sion of a warm conflict between educators of these two 
tendencies. The conflict is still going on; but mean- 
while, in accordance with the practical spirit of the age, 
the real-schools have been constantly increasing in num- 
ber and popularity. The studies in these two classes of 



294 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



scliools vary Bomewliat in different parts of Germany ; 
but the courses pursued at present in the Prussian gym- 
nasia and real-schools are fairly representative : 



Pkussian Gymnasium. 



STUDIES. 


S 

g 

3 
3 
9 


i 

■i 
& 

2 
2 
9 


a 

a 

2 
2 
9 


■2? 

2 
2 
9 

1 
2 
3 
3 
2 

30 


C9 

|h 

2 
2 
9 
1 
2 
3 
3 
2 

30 


o « 
tbtc 

2 
2 
8 

2 
3 
4 

2 
30 


4 

L 3 

a. 4) 

o^ 

2 
2 

8 

2 
3 
4 

2 
30 


si 

2 
3 
8 
6 
2 
3 
4 

2 

30 


8 
6 
2 
3 
4 

2 
30 




Religion. 


19 


German 


?1 


Latin 


77 


G reek 


'to 


French 




4 
3 
4 

2 

2 
2 

30 


5 
4 
4 
2 

2 

30 


'1 


History and geography 

Mathematics 


3 
4 
2 

*2 
2 

28 


28 
34 


Natural history 


10 


Physics 

Writing 


8 
4 


Drawing 


e, 


Hours per week 









Prijssian Real-School. 



STUDIES. 


OS 

i 


a 


i 




cS 

1^ 


t. a 

(3 33 






si 
i. B 


1 


Religion 


3 
3 

8 


2 
3 

7 

5 
3 
4 
2 

2 
2 

30 


2 
8 

7 

5 
4 
5 

2 

2 
30 


2 
3 
6 
4 
4 
4 
6 
2 

2 


2 
3 
6 
4 
4 
4 
5 
2 

2 
32 


2 
3 
5 
3 
4 
3 
6 
2 
3 

2 
32 


2 
3 
5 
3 
4 
3 
6 

3 

2 

2 
32 


2 
3 
5 
3 
4 
3 
5 

3 

2 

2 
32 


2 
3 
5 
3 
4 
3 
6 

3 

2 

2 
32 


19 


German 


9.7 


Latin 


54 


English 


90 


French 




34 


History and geography 

Mathematics 


3 
5 
2 

2 

2 

28 


30 
44 


Natural history 


19 


Physics 

Chemistry 

Writing 

Drawing 

Hours per week 


12 
6 

4 
18 



The course of instruction in both the gymnasia and 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 295 

the real-sclLOols extends througli nine years Pupils en- 
ter at nine years of age, and complete the course at 
eighteen or nineteen ; but many give up their studies 
at fourteen. As a rale, they do not room or board in 
the school-buildings ; and, when coming from a dis- 
tance, they are placed under the care of some trust- 
worthy resident of the town or city, who watches over 
their studies and conduct out of school hours. The 
secondary schools charge a tuition fee, which varies 
from about five dollars to twenty-seven dollars, accord- 
ing to class. 

The normal schools of Germany are excellent. The 
higher education of woman is left chiefly to private in- 
stitutions. Though the courses of study vary consider- 
ably, the following curriculum of the Royal Augusta 
School for young ladies in Berhn will serve to indicate 
the general range of instruction. The prominence 
given to the mother-tongue is especially commendable : 



STUDIES. 


Classes and number of hours per week. 




VIIL 


VII. 


VI. 


V. 


IV. 


III. 


II. 


I. 


Religion 


3 


3 


3 


4 


2 


2 


2 


2 


German 


12 


9 


1 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


French 




2 


3 


4 


6 


6 


6 


6 


English 














2 


2 


Arithmetic 


4 


4 


4 


4 

2 


2 

2 
2 


2 
2 

2 

2 


2 
2 
2 

2 


2 


Geography 

History 

Natural sciences .... 


2 

2 
2 


Penmanship 


3 


4 


2 


2 


2 








Drawing 








2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Vocal music 






2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Needle-work 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


Total 


26 


26 


25 


30 


30 


30 


32 


80, 







296 ^ROM THE KEFORMATION TO TEE PRESENT TIME. 

The universities, both for comprehensiveness and 
thoroughness of instruction, stand pre-eminent. Their 
large number is due mainly to the former subdivisions 
of Germany into separate states, each of which was am- 
bitious to maintain an institution for superior instruc- 
tion. Many of the universities possess a considerable 
endowment ; but most of them receive large subsidies 
from the state. The studies are ranged under the four 
faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy, 
the latter comprising, besides philosophy proper, nat- 
ural science, mathematics, political economy, history, 
geography, literature, and philology. A rector, elected 
annually by the professors, is charged with the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of the university. German stu- 
dents can not become full members without having 
completed the course of a gymnasium or real-school. 
The universities founded during the present century 
are as follows : Berlin, 1810 ; Munich, 1826 ; Breslau, 
1811; Bonn, 1818; and Strasburg, 1872. The Uni- 
versity of Berlin is the largest, with a faculty of two 
hundred and fifteen professors, and a yearly attendance 
of about five thousand students. 

(e.) feance. 

The interest in popular education in France dates 
from the Revolution of 1789. The leaders of that move- 
ment were inspired with democratic ideas, and at the 
same time they believed that popular intelligence was 
necessary for the perpetuity of the republic. Hence, the 
Convention in 1793 not only ordered the establishment 
of elementary schools throughout France, but also made 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 297 

attendance upon them compulsory. But discord at 
home and wars abroad, during the years immediately 
succeeding, prevented the execution of this wise de- 
cree. 

Having crowned himself emperor, Napoleon did not 
remain indifferent to the subject of general education. 
In 1806 he established a system of great compactness, 
which forms the basis of the excellent laws now in oper- 
ation. He united all the teaching forces of the country 
into one body, which he called the University of France. 
This university, whose affairs were administered by a 
grand master, assisted by a university council, was di- 
vided into three branches : Primary instruction, pro- 
vided in the elementary schools ; secondary instruction, 
provided in the lyceums and colleges ; and superior in- 
struction, given by the faculties of arts, medicine, law, 
and theology. France was divided into a number of 
large districts called academies, which were presided 
over by a rector, assisted by an academic council. Schools 
under local supervision were to be established in each 
community. But J^apoleon became too much absorbed 
in ambitious schemes of conquest to put his system into 
complete operation. 

Under the Eestoration, popular education languished. 
Though the system of Napoleon was retained in its es- 
sential features, it was administered with a narrow sec- 
tarian and monarchical spirit. Under the cover of zeal 
for moral and religious instruction, education was placed 
in large measure in the hands of priests. A priest, M. 
de Freyssinous, was called to the office of grand master 
of the university. In a circular announcing his appoint- 
ment, he sets forth the principles directing his adminis- 



298 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

tration : " In calling to the head of public education a 
man invested with a sacred character, his Majesty de- 
clares to all France how much he desires that the youth 
of his kingdom be brought up in religious and mo- 
narchical sentiments. . . . The true Frenchman never 
separates love of his king from love of his country, nor 
obedience to magistrates from attachment to the laws 
and institutions which the king has given his people." 
"While Germany was making vigorous efforts to re- 
trieve its fortune through the intellectual development 
of its people, France, in the hands of a reactionary 
government, saw its educational progress effectually 
thwarted. 

With the government of Louis Philippe after the 
Revolution of 1830, there came a change for the better. 
The system of Napoleon, as transmitted from the gov- 
ernment of the Restoration, was administered with a 
vigorous and progressive spirit. The schools were eman- 
cipated from priestly control. Each district or com- 
mune was required to have a school, and, in order that 
qualified teachers might not be wanting, normal schools 
were encouraged and multiplied. School-houses were 
erected ; scientific methods of instruction were intro- 
duced; an educational interest was awakened among 
the people. The basis of popular education was firmly 
estabhshed. For the encouragement of primary teach- 
ers in their unappreciated labors, Guizot, as Minister of 
Public Instruction, addressed them the following beauti- 
ful words : " I know full well that the care of the law 
will never succeed in rendering the simple profession of 
district teacher as attractive as it is useful. Society can 
not make a sufficient return to him who is devoted to 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 299 

this work. There is no fortune to be won, there is 
scarcely a reputation to be acquired in the discharge of 
his onerous duties. Destined to see his life pass away 
in monotonous toil, sometimes even to encounter the in- 
justice and ingratitude of ignorance, he would become 
disheartened, and perhaps succumb, if he did not draw 
his strength and courage elsewhere than in the prospect 
of an immediate and purely personal interest. It is 
necessary that he be sustained and animated by a pro- 
found sense of the moral importance of his labors ; that 
the austere pleasure of having served men and contrib- 
uted secretly to the public weal become the worthy re- 
ward which his conscience alone gives him. It is his 
glory to pretend to nothing beyond his obscure and la- 
borious condition ; to exhaust his strength in sacrifices 
scarcely noticed by those who profit by them ; in a 
word, to labor for men, and expect his reward from God 
alone." 

Under the second republic, the school laws were sub- 
jected, in 1850, to a comprehensive revision which, with 
recent minor modifications, resulted in the system now 
in force. There is a graduated and thorough system of 
superintendence. The highest educational authority is 
the Superior Council, which is presided over by the 
Minister of PubKc Instruction. The eighty-seven de- 
partments or counties of France are divided into seven- 
teen districts, or academies, in each of which an aca- 
demic council, under the direction of the Minister of 
Public Instruction, has charge of educational affairs. In 
each department or county there is another council com- 
posed of the prefect, the inspector of the academy, the 
inspector of primary instruction, and several others; 



300 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

while in eacli canton or commune a local board, with 
the mayor at its head, has supervision over all the 
schools, both pubhc and private. Each commune of 
live hundred inhabitants is required to have a jDublic 
school in which the following subjects are taught : Moral 
and civil duties, reading, writing, the elements of the 
French language and literature, history and geography 
(particularly of France), arithmetic, the elements of nat- 
ural science and its applications, the principles of de- 
signing, modeling, and music, gymnastics, miHtary ex- 
ercises for boys, and needle-work for girls. The schools 
are entirely free, and in 1882 the instruction of children 
between the ages of seven and fourteen was made com- 
pulsory. Any Frenchman twenty-ojae years of age, who 
has passed a satisfactory examination, is allowed to teach. 
Each department is required to have two normal schools, 
one for male and one for female teachers, with a course 
of study extending through thi'ee years. Since the hu- 
mihating defeat of 1870-'T1, the French Government 
has been making vigorous efforts to promote popular 
education ; and in no other country has there been, 
during the last decade, such marked educational prog- 
ress. 

Secondary instruction is provided by the lyceums 
and communal colleges. Previous to 1852 the lyceums, 
which correspond to the German gymnasia, were exclu- 
sively literary, Latin and Greek being the chief subjects 
of instruction. Since that time they have undergone 
important changes which bring them into closer relation 
with the present age. The classes and studies of the 
lyceums are as follows ; 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 301 



Plan of Studies for Lyceum. 





ELEMENTARY 
DIVISION. 


OR/VMMAB 
DIVISION. 


SUPERIOK 
DIVISION. 




8TUDIE3. 




Eighth 

Class. 

1 Seventh 
Class. 


5i 






"Si 


1=^ 


2 


6 


3 


French, nine years 

Latin, seven years 

Greek, five years 

History and Geography, 
ten years 


10 

4 
4 
4 


10 

4 
4 
4 


8 

4 
4 

4 


3 
10 

3 
3 
8 


3 
10 

3 
4 
3 


3 
6 
6 

o 

3 

2 


3 
6 
5 

4 

3 

3 


4 
4 
5 

4 

3 

3 


5 
4 
4 

4 

5 

3 


3 

9 

1 
8 
2 


49 

39i 

20i 


Mathematics and Science, 
ten years 


-12 


English or German, ten 
years 


SO 


Philosophy 


s 


Drawing 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


'>0 






Hours per week . . , 


24 


24 


22 


24 


25 


25 


25 


25 


27 


24 





In the superior division a system of bifurcation has 
been introduced, one course giving prominence to the 
ancient languages, the other to mathematics and the 
natural sciences. The studies common to both courses 
are French, history, geography, German or English, and 
logic. The communal colleges, which greatly outnum- 
ber the lyceums, differ from them only in having less 
extended curricula. 

Superior instruction is given by the five faculties of 
theology, law, medicine, philosophy, and science. They 
ai*e not united in one body, as is the case in the univer- 
sities of Germany and the United States, but maintain 
a separate existence. The faculties of theology are estab- 
lished at Paris, Aix, Bordeaux, Lyons, Rouen, Montau- 
ban ; those of law at Paris, Toulouse, Aix, Caen, Dijon, 
Poitiers, Rheims, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Douai, Nancy; 
those of science at Paris, Besangon, Rennes, Caen, Bor- 



302 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

deanx, Clermont, Poitiers, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Nancy, 
Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Toulouse ; and those of 
literature at Paris, Aix, Besangon, Bordeaux, Caen, Cler- 
mont, Dijon, Douai, Grenoble, Lyons, Montpellier, Poi- 
tiers, Rennes, Toulouse, Nancy. In addition to giving 
instiTiction, these faculties conduct examinations, and 
confer the degrees of bachelor, licentiate, and doctor. 

(f.) ENGLAJS'D. 

In England popular education has made less progress 
than in any other Protestant country of Europe. The 
explanation of this fact is to be found in the conserva- 
tive character of the people, and the aristocratic organi- 
zation of society. It is only in recent years that the 
masses have become prominent. Hence, it has hap- 
pened that, while popular education was left to indi- 
vidual effort and denominational zeal, the children of 
the wealthy and the noble have enjoyed the advantages 
of the great preparatory schools — Eton, Winchester, 
Westminster, St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors', Charter- 
house, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, and Christ's Hos- 
pital. 

These preparatory or endowed schools, which have 
been justly celebrated in English education, were found- 
ed, with three exceptions, in the sixteenth century. 
They are large boarding-schools, whose courses of study 
raise them to the rank of the French lyceum or the 
German gymnasium. In accordance with the conserva- 
tive character of English institutions, it is but recently 
that these schools have been much affected by modem 
educational progress. At present they are losing their 
mediaeval character before the pressure for reform ; and 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 303 

though Latin and Greek still remain the chief subjects 
of study, increasing attention is being paid to the 
mother-tongue, the natural sciences, and the modem lan- 
guages. The methods of instruction are becoming less 
mechanical ; and the principle of authority, which for- 
merly repressed a spirit of independence, is now giving 
place to freedom of thought and investigation. Ath- 
letics are cultivated with great zeal. The system of 
fagging, which requires students of the lower classes to 
perform menial services for those of the upper classes, 
BtiU exists. " The best friends of these schools," says 
Howard Staunton, "confess that they contain much 
that is pedantic, much that is puerile, much that is 
antiquated, much that is obsolete, much that is obstruct- 
ive, and not a little that is barbarous; and that, like 
other English institutions, they are apt to confound 
stohdity with solidity. Let, then, abuses be removed, 
let absolute obscurantism cease, and let such improve- 
ments be adopted as commend themselves, not to super- 
ficial progress, but to the most exalted wisdom." In 
addition to these endowed schools, there are many other 
schools and colleges devoted to secondary instruction. 

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, whose 
origin is lost in the darkness of the middle ages, are 
among the most celebrated in the world. They are 
similar in organization ; Oxford comprising twenty-four 
separate colleges, and Cambridge seventeen. Each col- 
lege has a separate organization of its own, presided 
over by a president, rector, or provost, while all are 
under a central or university government administered 
by a chancellor, in conjunction with a council elected by 
the several colleges. The universities are maintained by 



304 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

munificent endowments, the gifts of benefactors and the 
founders of colleges. Candidates for graduation must 
reside in a college for three academic years ; when, upon 
passing a satisfactory examination before the university 
examiners, they receive their degree. Oxford and Cam- 
bridge are both very conservative, and still merit in 
some degree the criticisms of Bacon and Milton. Dur- 
ing the present century other institutions for superior 
instruction have been founded, chief among which is 
the University of London, created by royal charter in 
1836. 

Prior to the beginning of the present century, the 
education of the masses of England was almost entirely 
neglected. To Robert Eaikes, the founder of the Sun- 
day-school, belongs the honor of having first awakened 
an interest in popular education. This he did partly 
through his paper, the " Gloucester Journal," in which 
he maintained that ignorance was the principal source 
of vice among the people, and pai'tly thi-ough his actual 
labors for the instruction of the neglected children of 
his town. His efforts led to the establishment of numer- 
ous Sunday-schools, which form the beginning of popu- 
lar instruction. He died in 1811. 

The labors of two other educators, following the 
efforts of Kaikes, gave an additional impulse to popular 
instruction. These were Andrew Bell and Joseph Lan- 
caster, who independently of each other invented the 
monitorial system of teaching. Bell, who was born at 
St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1753, went to India in 1787, 
where he was appointed superintendent of a school for 
the orphan children of British soldiers. Unable to pro- 
cure suitable teachers, he fell upon the plan, sometimes 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 305 

adopted in tlie native scliools of India, of employing 
advanced pnpils as instructors. As tlie plan succeeded 
beyond expectation, he published an account of it on his 
return to England, and in 1807 established in London a 
school in which the monitorial (or Madras) system was 
employed. The experiment was successful ; and as many 
influential persons, especially among the clergy, became 
interested in the system, the ISTational Society was formed 
in connection with the Church of England for the pur- 
pose of establishing schools throughout the British do- 
minions. The work of this society, under the direction 
of Bell, was prosecuted with great vigor, and in less 
than a dozen years one thousand schools had been opened, 
with an attendance of more than two hundred thousand 
children. 

This remarkable activity was due in part to the 
labors of Joseph Lancaster, a Quaker. Having es- 
tablished a school in London in 1798, he found it 
necessary to reduce his expenses ; and, as a means of 
doing this, he hit upon the monitorial system which 
Bell had already employed at Madras. His school met 
with great popular favor, and soon numbered one thou- 
sand pupils. It was visited by the royal family, on 
which occasion the king said to Lancaster, " I wish 
that every child in my kingdom were able to read the 
Bible." In view of the popularity and success of the 
school, an association of Dissenters, known as the Brit- 
ish and Foreign School Society, was organized for the 
promulgation of the system of Lancaster; and the 
rivalry between this and the National Society of the 
Established Church led to extraordinary efEorts in found- 
ing popular schools. 



806 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

It was not till 1818 that the English Government 
concerned itself about education. At that time a com- 
mittee was appointed to inspect the public schools for 
the upper and middle classes, and report upon their 
condition. Many evils were exposed, and the way 
opened for subsequent refonns. The first annual grant 
for education was made in 1834. The movement toward 
popular education received a noteworthy impulse from 
the educational conference held in London in 1857 un- 
der the presidency of the Prince Consort. In 1858 a 
commission was appointed by Parliament to report 
upon the state of popular education. The interest thus 
manifested by the government in popular education 
culminated in 18T0 in a statute which ordered that 
"there shall be provided for every school district a 
sufficient amount of accommodation in public element- 
ary schools available for all the children resident in 
such district, for whose elementary education efficient 
and suitable provision is not otherwise made." School 
boards, elected by all tax-payers, including women, were 
established to carry out the provisions of this law ; and 
they were further invested with authority to compel 
parents to send their children to school between the 
ages of five and thirteen. This new law has been very 
successful. A high percentage of attendance has been 
attained, and an able body of trained teachers provided ; 
and the present educational progress of England will 
compare favorably with that of any other Protestant 
country. 

(g.) the united states. 

In the United States the sovereignty is vested, not 
in the few, but in the many The masses are called 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 307 

upon to consider every kind of social and political ques- 
tion affecting the welfare of the country. The princi- 
ples of human liberty ; schemes for internal improve- 
ment ; questions of finance and education ; our rela- 
tions with other countries — these are some of the 
weighty matters brought before the popular mind. 
At the poUs, where every man has an equal voice, the 
decisions are made, and the policy of the government 
determined. 

These facts necessitate a considerable degree of pop- 
ular intelligence. The illiterate, clearly incapable of 
performing the high duties imposed on American citi- 
zens, remain ciphers in society, or become the dangerous 
tools of designing politicians. In some form, popular 
education is necessary both to a wise administration of 
the government and to its perpetuity. " Promote," said 
Washington, in his Farewell Address, " as an object of 
primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion 
of knowledge. In proportion as the stracture of a gov- 
ernment gives force to public opinion, it is essential that 
public opinion should be enlightened." 

The educational history of the United States natu- 
rally divides itself into the colonial and national periods. 
The 'New England and the Southern colonies present a 
striking difference in their educational development. 
This difference had its origin partly in the dissimilar 
character and antecedents of the colonists, and partly in 
the physical conditions of the two sections. In New 
England education early received attention, and pro- 
duced excellent results ; in the South it was neglected. 
As a result, the Southern colonies, in proportion to popu- 
lation and natural advantages, exhibited a slower devel- 



308 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

opment, losing ground that has not yet been recovered. 
As was the case in Europe during the corresponding 
period, the theological influence in education was very 
strong ; but, at the same time, the peculiar circumstances 
of establishing a home in an unsubdued wilderness, and 
of laying the foundation of a great republic, early gave 
the schools vigorous life and a practical bearing. 

(1.) Colonial Period. 

In Virginia popular education was almost wholly 
neglected during the colonial period. This was owing 
partly to the aristocratic spirit which existed in the 
colony from the beginning, and partly to the scattered 
condition of the population. While in IS'ew England 
the people naturally collected in towns, in Virginia the 
colonists, devoted to agriculture and seeking to repro- 
duce the conditions of the mother-country, settled on 
large plantations. For haK a century after the founding 
of Jamestown, schools were almost unknown. Educa- 
tion was confined to the parental roof, and successive 
generations grew up in comparative ignorance. Sir Will- 
iam Berkeley wrote in 1671 : "I thank God there are 
no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not 
have these for a hundred years ; for learning has brought 
disobedience, and heresy and sects into the world, and 
printing has divulged them and libels against the best 
government. God keep us from both ! " 

The apathy or hostility prevailing in regard to popu- 
lar schools did not exist to the same degree in reference 
to the higher education. From an early date the question 
of establishing a college had been repeatedly discussed. 
Finally, after the lapse of more than three quarters of 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 309 

a century from the time the subject was first broached, 
the College of William and Marj was founded in 1692. 
When the enterprise began to assume definite form, a 
commendable interest, both at home and in England, 
was manifested in its success. The Lieutenant-Governor 
headed the subscription-list with a generous gift, and 
his example was followed by other prominent members 
of the colony. The sum of twenty-five hundred pounds 
having been raised, the Rev. James Blair was sent to 
England to solicit a charter for the institution. This 
was readily granted ; and, as an additional evidence of 
royal favor, the quit-rents yet due in the colony, amount- 
ing to nearly two thousand pounds, were turned over to 
the college. For its further support, twenty thousand 
acres of land were set apart, and a tax of a penny a 
pound was laid on all tobacco exported from Yirginia 
and Maryland to other American colonies. The insti- 
tution was located at Williamsburg, and the Rev. James 
Blair, who had been active in securing its establishment, 
was chosen as its first president. In the language of the 
charter, the college was founded " to the end that the 
Church of Yirginia may be furnished with a seminary 
of ministers of the gospel, and that the youth may be 
piously educated in good letters and manners, and that 
the Christian faith may be propagated among the West- 
em Indians to the glory of Almighty God." The course 
of study embraced divinity, language, and natural philos- 
ophy — "a divinity," says Howison, " shaped and molded 
at every point by the liturgy and creed of the English 
Church ; languages which filled the college walls with 
boys hating Greek and Latin grammars; and natural 
philosophy, which was just beginning to believe that 



310 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

the earth revolved round the sun, rather than the sun 
round the earth." Such was the founding of the next 
oldest American college, from whose walls have gone 
forth many able men influential in molding the destinies 
of our country. 

The conditions in Yirginia were not favorable to 
Hterary development. Descended in good part from 
noble families, the colonists brought with them the aris- 
tocratic feelings and rehgious intolerance characteristic 
of the royaHsts in England. The isolated condition of 
the population was unfavorable to the kindling of mind ; 
the absence of schools and printing-presses lowered the 
tone of popular intelligence ; the concentration of power 
and influence in the hands of an aristocracy of wealthy 
land-owners, occupied chiefly with pleasure and pohtics, 
was not suited to awaken a literary spirit. With few 
exceptions, the writers of the colonial period were bom 
or educated abroad. Instead of hterary men, Virginia 
produced sagacious politicians, impassioned orators, and 
elegant country gentlemen of boundless and gracious 
hospitahty. 

If the early colonists of Yirginia were largely ad- 
venturers, seeking their fortune in the ]S'ew World, the 
Puritans of 'New England, fleeing from religious oppres- 
sion, came to establish a permanent home. A deep 
earnestness, which often ran into the extravagance of a 
forbidding asceticism, characterized their early history. 
They counted no sacrifice too great to maintain the in- 
tegrity of their rehgious convictions. Giving up com- 
fort, wealth, home, they faced the dangers of a winter 
sea and the inhospitahty of a barren shore. They were 
inteUigent and brave men, daring to think for them- 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 311 

selves, and to maintain their convictions at any cost. 
Many of them had enjoyed the advantages of Oxford 
and Cambridge, and brought with them the precious 
seed of learning. They had some consciousness of their 
mission as the founders of a mighty people, and, with 
their eye turned to future generations, they laid the 
foundations broad and well. We may smile at their 
weaknesses, their superstition, and their austerity of 
life, but, underneath these peculiarities, we discover a 
strength of character, depth of conviction, and sincerity 
of purpose, that command our respect and admiration. 

In view of these facts, it is not strange that educa- 
tion in Massachusetts received early attention. The ac- 
tion of the Puritans was prompt and vigorous. Within 
a few years after the landing of the Mayflower, when 
their number was yet small; when their homes were 
without comfort ; when they were continually menaced 
by the scalping-knife of the savage, they established a 
system of schools that placed them in advance of the 
most enlightened portions of Europe. In 1636 the 
General Court voted an appropriation of four hundred 
pounds for the founding of a school, which, after its 
first private benefactor, the Rev. John Harvard, received 
the name of Harvard College. It was cheerfully and 
liberally sustained by the l^ew England colonies. It 
was opened in 1638, and sent forth its first graduating 
class in 1642. The standard of scholarship was not low. 
The requirements for entrance, in 1643, were given as 
follows : " When any scholar is able to understand Tully, 
or such like classical author extempore, and make and 
speak true Latin in verse and prose ; . . . and decline 
perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek 



312 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

tongue, let him then, and not before, be capable of ad- 
mission into the college." 

The most remarkable action, however, of the Mas- 
sachusetts colony was in relation to common schools. 
In 1647 the General Court passed the following order, 
the preamble of which recalls the powerful words of 
Luther : " It being one chief project of the old deluder, 
Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Script- 
ures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown 
tongue, so in these latter times by persuading from the 
use of tongues, that so at least the true sense and mean- 
ing of the original might be clouded by false glosses of 
saint-seeming deceivers ; that learning may not be buried 
in the grave of our fathers in the Church and Common- 
wealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors — 

" It is therefore ordered^ that every township in this 
jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the 
number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith ap- 
point one within their town to teach all such children as 
shall resort to him to write and read ; whose wages shall 
be paid, either by the parents or masters of such children, 
or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as 
the major part of those that order the prudentials of the 
town shall appoint ; provided, those that send their chil- 
dren be not oppressed by paying much more than they 
can have them taught for in other to^vns ; and it is fur- 
ther ordered^ that when any town shall increase to the 
number of one hundred famihes or householders, they 
shall set up a grammar-school, the master thereof being 
able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for 
the university ; provided, that if any town neglect the 
performance hereof above one year, that every such town 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 313 

shall pay five pounds to tlie next school till they shall 
perform this order." 

The other colonies of the North manifested the same 
interest in popular education shown by Massachusetts ; 
those of the South, following the example of Yirginia, 
left it to individual effort. A public school was estab- 
Hshed in Connecticut as early as 1639. The first code 
of laws for this colony, published in 1G50, required " the 
selectmen of every town to have a vigilant eye over 
their brethren and neighbors, to see that none of them 
shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their famihes 
as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, 
their children and apprentices so much learning as may 
enable them perfectly to read the English tongue." The 
colony of Rhode Island had a public school in 1640. 
By reason of their close political relations, Maine and 
New Hampshire had substantially the educational sys- 
tem of Massachusetts. The colonists of New Jersey 
were interested in schools from the beginning, though 
public action in referenise to education was not taken 
till 16Y6. In that year the " town's men " of Newark 
were authorized to establish a school and employ a com- 
petent teacher for one year. The educational history of 
Pennsylvania is praiseworthy. The first plan of pro- 
prietary government, drawn up by Penn, in 1682, makes 
mention of pubhc schools. In 1683, the year Phila- 
delphia was founded, the council of the province or- 
dered the establishment of a school. A charter granted 
by Penn, in 1711, contains the following preamble : 
" Whereas^ the prosperity and welfare of any people de- 
pend, in a great measure, upon the good education of 
youth, and their early introduction in the principles of 

14 



314 FKOM THE EEFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

true religion and virtue, and qualifying them to serve 
their country and themselves by breeding them in read- 
ing, writing, and learning of languages and useful arts 
and sciences, suitable to their sex, age, and degree — 
which can not be effected, in any manner, so well as by 
erecting Public Schools for the purpose aforesaid." 
Maryland seems to have made no provision for pubKc 
schools till 1723, when an act was passed " for the en- 
couragement of learning, and erecting schools in the 
several counties of this province." The Constitution of 
l!^orth Carolina, adopted in 1776, provided that " a school 
or schools shall be estabhshed by the Legislature for the 
convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to 
the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to 
instruct at low prices ; and that all useful learning shall 
be encouraged in one or more universities." !No action 
was taken with reference to public schools till 1819. 
South Carolina and Georgia made no provision for pop- 
ular education during the colonial period. 

(2.) National Period. 

When the independence of the United States had 
been achieved, and a Constitution adopted, education 
was left to the care of the separate States. Yet the 
most influential leaders in the formation of the new 
government were outspoken advocates of education, and 
interpreted that clause of the Constitution empowering 
Congress " to lay and collect taxes, . . . and provide for 
the common defense and general welfare of the United 
States," as authorizing the General Government to en- 
courage the establishment of schools. In a message to 
Congress, in 1790, Washington, after making sundry 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 315 

other recommendations touching military organization, 
uniformity in currency, weights and measures, etc., con- 
tinued : " Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree 
with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can 
better deserve your patronage than the promotion of 
science and literature. Knowledge is in every country 
the surest basis of public happiness. In one, in which 
the measm'es of government receive their impression so 
immediately from the sense of the community, as in 
ours, it is proportionably essential." 

In his inaugural address, John Adams said : " The 
wisdom and generosity of the Legislature in making lib- 
eral appropriations in money for the benefit of schools, 
academies, and colleges, is an equal honor to them and 
their constituents ; a proof of their veneration for let- 
ters and science, and a portent of great and lasting good 
to North and South America, and to the world. Great 
is truth — great is liberty — great is humanity — and they 
must and will prevail ! " 

Thomas Jefferson was a friend to popular education. 
" I look to the diffusion of light and education," he said, 
" as the resources most to be relied on for ameliorating 
the condition, promoting the virtue, and advancing the 
happiness of man. And I do hope, in the present spirit 
of extending to the great mass of mankind the blessings 
of instruction, I see a prospect of great advancement in 
the happiness of the human race, and this may proceed 
to an indefinite although not an infinite degree. A 
system of general instruction, which shall reach every 
description of our citizens, from the richest to the poor- 
est, as it was the earliest, so it shall be the latest of all 
the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to 



31G FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

take an interest. Give it to ns, in any shape, and re- 
ceive for the inestimable boon the thanks of the young, 
and the blessings of the old, who are past all other serv- 
ices but prayers for the prosperity of their country, and 
blessings to those who promote it." 

The establishment of a national university, to be lo- 
cated at the seat of General Government, was earnestly 
advocated by Wasliington. He repeatedly refers to the 
subject, not only in his official communications to Con- 
gress, but also in his private correspondence with Ham- 
ilton, Jefferson, and others. He conceived that such an 
institution would guard American youth from the dan- 
gers of education abroad, and have a tendency to banish 
local and State prejudices from the national councils. 
In his last will he bequeathed fifty shares in the Poto- 
mac Company " toward the endowment of a university 
to be established within the limits of the District of 
Columbia." 

The plan of granting a certain portion of the public 
lands for educational purposes had its beginning in 1785. 
In the ordinance for the government of the Northwest 
Territory, the sixteenth section (one square mile) in 
every township was set apart for the maintenance of 
public schools. The principle governing this action was 
stated as follows : " Eehgion, morality, and knowledge 
being necessary to good government and the happiness 
of mankind, schools and the means of education shall 
be forever encouraged." Two years later an additional 
grant of two townships was made to each State for the 
support of a university. As this action was confirmed 
in 1789, after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 
every State organized since that time has received, in 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 3 17 

addition to the grant for common schools, at least two 
townships for the promotion of higher education. In 
1848 the thirty-sixth section of each township was added 
to the sixteenth for the support of common schools. 
Special grants have been made at different times. The 
land granted by the General Government for educational 
purposes between 1785 and 1862 amounts to nearly 
140,000,000 acres. 

In the dark days of 1862 Congress was not unmind- 
ful of the material progress of the countiy. The need 
of a more practical education than that furnished by the 
ordinary classical college was felt. With the view of 
bringing education into closer relation with the mechanic 
arts and the agricultural development of our vast do- 
main, Congress made a grant of land-scrip to the amount 
of 30,000 acres for each senator and representative for 
the estabhshment of what are known as agricultural 
colleges. The leading object of these colleges, as the 
bin stated, "should be, without excluding other scien- 
tific and classical studies, and including military tactics, 
to teach such branches of learning as are related to agri- 
culture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the 
liberal and practical education of the industrial classes 
in the several pursuits and professions of life." The 
amount of land thus donated to the several States was 
9,510,000 acres. All of the States have accepted the 
grant ; and, in accordance with the provisions of the 
act, they have either established independent institu- 
tions, or have connected an agricultural department with 
an existing college or university. Supplemented by 
State appropriations and in a few cases by individual 
mimificence, this donation by Congress, though failing 



318 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

to realize the expectations of its friends, has led to the 
establishment of some excellent institutions. 

The Bureau of Education is an office in the Depart- 
ment of the Interior. It had its origin in the need of 
some central agency to collect, preserve, and distribute 
educational information. In 1866 a memorial emanat- 
ing from the National Association of State and City 
School Superintendents was presented to the House of 
Eepresentatives ; and, substantially on the basis thus 
recommended, an act was passed March 2, 1867, estab- 
lishing an agency "for the purpose of collecting such 
statistics and facts as shall show the condition and prog- 
ress of education in the several States and Territories, 
and of diffusing such information respecting the organi- 
zation and management of school systems and methods 
of teaching as shall aid the people of the United 
States in the establishment and maintenance of effi- 
cient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause 
of education." During its brief existence, the Bureau 
of Education has collected a large amount of valuable 
educational intelligence, which by means of annual 
reports and circulars of information it has widely dis- 
seminated. 

By the Declaration of Independence the several col- 
onies assumed the character of sovereign States. The 
States of the South continued to regard education, not 
as a public but as a private interest, to be left in the 
hands of parents or guardians. If here and there popu- 
lar education found, as in the case of Jefferson, a strong 
advocate, it did not prevail. Primary education was 
suppKed by means of subscription schools, which were 
maintained during the winter months in every com- 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 319 

munity of sufficient population. For those unable to 
pay the cost of tuition, a public fund was provided. In 
the families of the wealthy, the custom of employing 
tutors generally prevailed. Private enterprise secured 
the establishment of numerous flourishing secondaiy 
schools, wliile denominational zeal multiplied the num- 
ber of Christian colleges. 

By destroying the system of slavery, and leading, in 
some measure, to a reorganization of society, the civil 
war has brought the Southern States into harmonious 
relations with the rest of the country. The South has 
broken away from hurtful traditions ; it is rapidly de- 
veloping its material resources ; it is looking to the fu- 
ture with a confident hopefulness that gives vigor and 
courage to every effort. In no particular has the change 
been more remarkable and significant than in education. 
Since the war every Southern State has adopted a sys- 
tem of free pubhc instruction which, in spite of poverty, 
prejudice, and the scattered condition of the population, 
has made surprising progress. Opposition has been 
hushed or overcome ; interest in popular education is 
profound and general ; political parties vie with one 
another in befriending the public schools ; young teach- 
ers, filled with the spirit of educational progress, have 
come to the front. " The great work," says the E.ev. 
A. D. Mayo, " has begun in earnest. Our Northern 
folk have no conception of the rapidly growing power 
of the educational movement in the South. It is polar- 
izing political parties, shaking up religious sects, exciting 
the drawing-rooms, pulverizing ' bosses,' civil, ecclesias- 
tical, and social." 

The spirit of the North and the West found fitting 



320 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

expression in the Constitution of Massacliusetts, adopted 
in 1Y80. "Wisdom and knowledge," says this docu- 
ment, " as well as virtue, diffused generally among the 
body of the people, being necessary for the preservation 
of their rights and liberties ; and as these depend on 
spreading the opportunities and advantages of education 
in the various parts of the country, and among the dif- 
ferent orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legis- 
lators and magistrates, in all future periods of this Com- 
monwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the 
sciences, and all seminaries of them ; especially the 
University of Cambridge, public schools, and grammar- 
schools in the towns ; to encourage private societies and 
public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the pro- 
motion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, 
manufactures, and a natural history of the country ; to 
countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity 
and general benevolence, public and private charity, in- 
dustry and frugahty, honesty and punctuality in their 
dealings ; sincerity, good-humor, and all social affections 
and generous sentiments among the people." 

Though differing in details, the system of popular 
instruction now adopted throughout the United States 
is everywhere substantially the same. It comprehends 
three grades of schools — the primary schools, in which 
reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and English 
grammar are the principal subjects taught ; the second- 
ary schools, known as high -schools, graded schools, 
grammar-schools, and academies, in which the higher 
mathematics, foreign languages, history, and natural sci- 
ence are introduced ; and the colleges and universities, 
in which the curricula embrace the studies necessary to 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 321 

a liberal education and professional life. To these should, 
be added the normal schools, which are designed to give 
teachers a scientific training for their vocation. 

The primary schools and, for the most part, the sec- 
ondary schools, are supported by a tax levied on all as- 
sessed property, together with the income derived from 
any permanent fund created by special State appropri- 
ation or grant by the national Government. Though 
many States have one or more institutions for superior 
instruction maintained by annual appropriations from 
the public treasury, the majority of our colleges and 
universities are the fruit of denominational zeal and 
individual munificence. The State, usually through a 
Board of Education or Superintendent of Public In- 
struction, exercises a general supervision over the public 
schools, while the details of management are committed 
to local oflBcers, consisting of county superintendents 
and district committees. 

A strong interest in education exists in every section 
of our country ; and, under the impulsion of this feel- 
ing, every effort is made to advance the public schools. 
Neat and weil-fumished school-houses are rapidly sup- 
planting the log-huts and temporary make-shifts of the 
past; a better qualified class of teachers is being de- 
manded by public sentiment ; the various school officers 
are held more firmly to a faithful discharge of their du- 
ties ; the school term is being lengthened ; better courses 
of study and improved methods of teaching are being 
everywhere introduced. The French Commission to 
the Exposition of 1876 was correct in reporting that 
" the great zeal for the education of the young which 
grows as the population increases, penetrates into the 



322 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

public mind more and more, and manifests itself in 
more and more decided ways. "WTiat may have seemed 
at first a transient glow of enthusiasm, a generous im- 
pulse, has in time assumed all the force of a logical con- 
viction, or rather of a positive certainty. It is no longer 
a movement of a few philanthropists or of a few re- 
ligious societies, but it is an essential part of the public 
administration for which the States, the cities, and town- 
ships appropriate every year more money than any other 
country in the world has hitherto devoted to the educa- 
tion of the people. Far from hmiting this generosity as 
much as possible to primary instruction, it goes so far 
as to declare free for all not only primary but even sec- 
ondary schools." 

The subject of compulsory education has naturally 
elicited considerable attention, and at present educators 
are divided in their opinions. The opponents of the 
system say that it is essentially un-American ; that it in- 
terferes with the rights of parents ; that the difficulties 
of carrying it out are insuperable ; and that its absence 
involves no danger to our institutions. The advocates 
of the system reply that ig-norance is an evil which the 
State should remove ; that the parent has no right to 
bring up his children in ignorance ; that the State has a 
natural right to enact any laws that may be necessary 
for seK-protection ; and that the compulsory system, 
both in this country and in Europe, has produced bene- 
ficial results. The sentiment in favor of compulsory- 
education seems to be growing. Connecticut, Massa- 
chusetts, Maine, Michigan, Texas, California, and New 
Jersey have adopted it, and in other States the subject 
is more or less discussed. 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 323 

Another prominent educational question is tlie co- 
education of the sexes in our colleges and universities. 
In the primary schools and even in the secondary 
schools of this country, the young of both sexes have 
generally been educated together. Begun from consid- 
erations of economy and convenience, co-education is 
now continued in these schools from a strong conviction 
of its excellence. But that the same system should ap- 
ply to superior education is stoutly denied. It is said 
that co-education in our higher institutions of learning 
endangers the health of young women ; that it does not 
give them a training suited to their destiny in life ; that 
it develops a strong-minded type of womanhood ; that 
it lowers the grade of scholarship ; that it leads to per- 
sonal attachments and matrimonial engagements ; and, 
lastly, that it gives rise to scandals. These arguments 
are chiefly theoretical, and hence it happens that they 
are met by a series of counter-statements. The advo- 
cates of co-education in our colleges, after a more or less 
extended observation of its workings, affirm that the 
system has not proved injurious to health ; that it aims 
at individual development, which is the true end of 
education ; that it makes young women more womanly, 
and young men more manly ; that it raises the standard 
of scholarship, since female students usually maintain a 
better average than their male competitors ; that if it 
sometimes leads to matrimonial engagements, these are 
formed under the most favorable circumstances ; that it 
does not give rise to more scandals than otherwise occur ; 
that it elevates the moral tone of a college, and renders 
discipline less difficult ; and that, by bringing about a 
communion of sympathy and taste between man and 



324 FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

woman, it lays tlie foundation for greater domestic hap- 
piness. Whatever may be thought of the arguments on 
either side, it is certain that co-education is growing in 
popular favor. It is but a few years since the experi- 
ment was first tried, yet at present the system is adopted 
in nearly one third of our colleges and universities. 
Where it has been tried under favorable conditions, it 
has rarely failed, by its good results, to overcome preju- 
dice and win popular favor. 

Our college curricula are undergoing important modi- 
fications. The old course of study, consisting almost 
exclusively of Latin, Greek, and mathematics, has ap- 
peared to many not to be duly adjusted to the conditions 
of the present age. The growth of knowledge during 
the past two or three centuries has been very great. A 
large number of sciences, particularly those relating to 
ISTature, have been added to the domain of learning. 
Modem nations have come into prominence, and pro- 
duced literatures of incomparable worth. These facts 
have necessitated an enlargement of the college course. 
As President Eliot, of Harvard, has well said : " The 
general growth of knowledge, and the rise of new Hter- 
atures, arts, and sciences during the past two hundred 
and fifty years, have made it necessary to define anew 
hberal education, and hence enlarge the signification of 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which is the customary 
evidence of a hberal education." The leading subjects 
that have thus acquired prominence are English, the 
natural sciences, and the modem languages ; and, in 
order to make room for them, nearly all of our colleges 
have adopted parallel courses and the elective system. 
The process of adjustment which is now going on will, 



EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 325 

no doubt, issue in courses of study well suited to the 
needs of our country. 

(h.) conclusion. 

There can be little doubt that the educational world 
is in a period of rapid transition. Correct views of the 
nature and end of education are becoming prevalent ; 
and, in order that educational methods may have a sci- 
entific basis, the physical and mental constitution of 
man is being subjected anew to careful investigation. 
The laws governing human development have been 
largely ascertained, and now give direction to our best 
teaching. The work of education is no longer left to 
novices destitute of any training except an acquaintance 
with the defective methods by which they were them- 
selves instructed. Teaching is being elevated into a 
profession, for which intelligence and training are recog- 
nized as necessary. There is a breaking away from tra- 
ditional views and customs. Human reason, unfettered 
by tradition or the dicta of authority, is everywhere 
proving all things, and holding fast only that which is 
good. The present is an age of experiment and inves- 
tigation. Able minds in all Christian lands are engaged 
upon educational problems. While all this leaves the 
educational world in an unsettled condition, it promises 
well for the future. Within the past few decades truth 
has made large conquests in the domain of education. 
And, as we may well judge, both from the lessons of 
the past and the tendencies of the present, there will 
come forth from this struggle an education firmly estab- 
lished on a scientific basis, and better adjusted to the 
conditions of modern life. 



II^DEX. 



Abstract human education, tenden- 
cies and results, 247-249. 

Academies and high-schools in the 
United States, 320, 321. 

Adams, John, President of the Unit- 
ed States, on popular education, 
315. 

Agricola, father of German human- 
ism, 125 ; studies and labors of, 
125-127 ; views of, on study and 
schools, 126-128. 

Agricultural colleges in the United 
States, 317. 

Albrecht of Saxony, on excesses of 
students in the University of Jena 
(1624), 165, 166, 

Alexandria in Egypt, 36 ; catecheti- 
cal schools in, 91-93. 

Antwerp, Agricola's school in, 126. 

Aristotle, pupil of Plato's, 62 ; great 
intellect, 62, 63 ; Lyceum of, in 
Athens, mode of teaching, 63 ; 
views and principles, 64, 65 ; 
writings of, studied in monastic 
schools, 100. 

Aryan or Indo-European family of 
nations, 15 ; Greeks a branch of, 
39 ; Teutonic tribes also, 87. 

Asceticism in the early Church, 93, 
94. 

Athens, in Attica, position and peo- 
ple of, 49 ; Attic idea of educa- 
tion, 49 ; laws of Solon, 50 ; only 
freemen educated, time occupied 
in studies, etc., 51-55 ; love of 
the beautiful, 49, 65 ; defects of, 
and results, 64-56 ; Socrates, Pla- 



to, Aristotle, influence of, 56- 
65. 
Augustine, Saint, on Christian edu- 
cation, 98. 

Bacon, Francis, early life and train- 
ing, 179 ; studies law, enters Par- 
liament, etc., 180 ; political ad- 
vancement of, 180; stains on 
character, 180, 181; views of, on 
education, 182, 183; true value 
of learning, 183; on graces of 
style, 183, 184; Novum Orga- 
num of, 184, 185; characteristic 
features of philosophy of, 185 ; 
extract from the Novum Orga- 
num, 186 ; value of works of, to 
education, 186, 187; prediction 
of, as to the future, 188. 

Barnard, Henry, on history of edu- 
cation, 7. 

Basedow, founder of Philanthropin- 
ists, 256, 257 ; views of, quoted, 
257, 258; performances in schools 
of, 258-260 ; failure of, 260. 

Basil, Saint, on Christian education, 
99. 

Bell, Andrew, educational work of, 
304. 

Benedictines, 99. 

Berkeley, Sir William, on free 
schools, etc., in Virginia, 308. 

Bible, poetry of the, 31 ; rule of 
faith among Protestants, 138 ; to 
be studied in schools, 139, 140. 

Blair, Rev. James, founds William 
and Mary College, Virginia, 309. 



328 



INDEX. 



Breal, Michel, French scholar, 

quoted, 139, 140. 
Brahmans and Brahmanism, 16-20. 
Brethren of the Common Life, 

schools of, 112, 113. 
Bureau of Education in the United 

States, 318. 
Burgher schools, character of, 110, 

111. 

Calvin, John, interest in education, 
153. 

Carlyle, Thomas, on Martin Luther, 
140. 

Catechetical schools in the primi- 
tive Church, 91-93. 

Cathedral and parochial schools, 
102. 

Cato the Elder, course of, as to edu- 
cation, 70, 71. 

Charlemagne, views and efforts in 
behalf of education, 104-106. 

China, genius and character of the 
people, 9, 10; at a stand-still, 
10; aim of education in, 10, 11 ; 
schools and teaching, 12; work- 
ing of system, 13 ; general result, 
14, 15. 

Christ Jesus, early life and train- 
ing, 82, 83 ; mode of teaching, 
84 ; the teacher and educator of 
mankind, 85 ; Eousseau's tribute 
to, 255. 

Christianity, relation of, to educa- 
tion, 80 ; wide-reaching influence 
of, 81, 82; life and teaching of 
the Founder of, 82-85. 

Chrysoloras, Manuel, in Florence, 
121. 

Chrysostom, Saint, on Christian ed- 
ucation, 96, 97. 

Church, early, education in, 88-90 ; 
pitiable condition of the Roman 
Catholic, at time of the Reforma- 
tion, 135-138. 

Cicero, quoted, 67 ; education and 
character of, 71, 72 ; views and 
services as to education, 72, 73 ; 
writings of, used in the monastic 
schools, 100. 



Classical nations, ancient, position 
of, in history of education, 37-39. 

Co-education of sexes in the United 
States, 323, 324. 

Coleman, on education among the 
early Christians, 89, 90. 

Comenius, maxim of, 1 ; born in 
Moravia, 200; early years and 
training, 200, 201 ; losses and 
trials, 201, 202 ; prepares an ed- 
ucational work, 202 ; publishes 
" The Gate of Tongues," merits 
of, 203, 204 ; great " pansophic " 
scheme of education, 204 ; goes 
to Sweden, 204, 205 ; conference 
with Oxenstiern, 205 ; publishes 
"Latest Method with Languages," 
205, 206 ; opens school in Patak, 
206 ; prepares " The World Illus- 
trated," 206 ; work very popular, 
207 ; finds an asylum in Amster- 
dam in old age, 207 ; services to 
education, 208, 209 ; principles, 
etc., of, 209-211; school system 
and pious sentiments, 211, 212. 

Confucius, and Chinese classics, 13 ; 
system of teaching, 13, 14. 

Constantinople, conquest of, by the 
Turks, and results, 119-121. 

Crusades, in the Holy Land, effects 
of the, 107. 

Cusanus, Nicholas, one of the Breth- 
ren of the Common Life, 113. 

Cyrus the Great, incident in early 
life of, 24, 25. 

D'Aubign6, on Reuchlin, 130; on 

Luther and Melanchthon, 149. 
David, King, Psalms of, 31. 
Deism in England and elsewhere, 

248. 

Education, necessity of, 2 ; elements 
entering into, 4 ; progress in, 6 ; 
nature and value of history of, 6, 
7 ; history of, treated under three 
heads, 8 ; ancestral, among the 
Chinese, 15 ; caste system in In- 
dia, 21 ; state education in Per- 
sia, 25, 26 ; theocratic among the 



INDEX. 



329 



Jews, 32 ; under the priests in 
Egypt, 34 ; priestly education in 
Egypt, 35 ; patriarchal in heroic 
age, 39 ; aesthetic in Athens, 56 ; 
practical in Rome, 71 ; Christian 
education before the Reforma- 
tion, 86, 87, 117, 118; primarily 
religious in the early Church, 
88-91; catechetical schools, 91, 
92 ; during the middle ages, 93, 
94 ; asceticism dominant, 94-98 ; 
views of the fathers, Chrysos- 
tom, Jerome, Augustine, etc., 96— 
99 ; course in monastic schools, 
100 ; in cathedral and parochial 
schools, 102, 103 ; Neander's 
Btatements, 103, 104 ; Charle- 
magne's view and efforts, 104- 
106 ; secular against ecclesiasti- 
cal, 106, 107; knightly, 107- 
110; female education neglected, 
111, 112; growth of scientific 
spirit, 113, 114; founding of 
universities, 115-117 ; education 
from the Reformation to present 
time, 119, 120 ; revival of learn- 
ing, 120; labors of Agricola, 
Reuchlin, Erasmus, 125, 128, 
131 ; relation of Reformation to, 
135-138 ; services of Protestant- 
ism to, 139, 140; services of 
Martin Luther to, 140-147 ; serv- 
ices of Melanchthon to,150-152 ; 
services of Zwingli and Calvin 
to, 153, 154; leading tendencies, 
154; abstract theological (1550- 
1700), 154 e< seq,; effect pro- 
duced, 156-158; increase of 
schools, 158, 159; success of 
Jesuit schools, 168, 169; results 
of Jesuit system, 172, 173 ; re- 
action against theological teach- 
ing, 173-175; liberal, progres- 
sive spirit of seventeenth cent- 
ury, 173, 174; progress in nat- 
ural science and literature, 174; 
Montaigne's views, 176-178 ; Ba- 
con's views, 182, 183 ; Milton's 
views and scheme of studies, 
190 - 194 ; Ratich's memorial. 



school, methods, etc., 195-200; 
Comenius's works on education, 
202-204 ; Locke's principles and 
views, 217-222; further reac- 
tion based on religion, 223, 224 ; 
Port Royal school and services, 
225-227; Fenelon on "Educa- 
tion of Girls," 228, 231 ; Rollin's 
views and principles as to teach- 
ing, etc., 235-239 ; abstract hu- 
man tendencies, and results, 247- 
249; education in nineteenth 
century, 266 et seq. ; general ad- 
vance, 266 ; Pestalozzi's services, 
266-278; Froebel's work and 
success, 278-288 ; Kindergarten 
method, 283, 284 ; contemporary 
education, great advance in, 288- 
291; in Germany, 291-296; in 
France, 296-302; in Endand, 
302-306; in the United States, 
306 el seq. ; national university 
advocated, 317 ; grant of public 
lands for, 316, 317 ; compulsory, 
322; of both sexes in colleges, 
323, 324 ; transitional period at 
hand, 325 ; prospect in the fu- 
ture, 325. 

Egypt, people of, advance in civili- 
zation, 32 ; people, priests, etc., 
33, 34 ; priests in charge of edu- 
cation, 34, 35 ; change of system 
under Psammetichus, 35, 36. 

Eliot, President of Harvard College, 
quoted, 324. 

•' fimile," Rousseau's, teaching as to 
nature, etc., 250-255. 

England, progress in science and 
literature in seventeenth century, 
174 ; efforts in behalf of educa- 
tion in eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries, 302-306. 

Erasmus, eminent scholar, 131 ; ser- 
vices to the Reformation, 132; 
edition of Greek Testament, 132, 
133 ; lack of moral courage, 133 ; 
views on education, 133-135. 

Farrar, Canon, on Seneca the phi- 
losopher, 74. 



330 



INDEX. 



Female education. See Woman. 
Fenelon, priest, author, teacher, 

227, 228 ; tutor of grandson of 
Louis XIV., 228, 229 ; mode of 
teaching, 229, 230; Telemachus 
of, 230; on education of girls, 

228, 231, 232; views as to early 
education, mode of instruction, 
etc., 282-234. 

France, progress of, in science and 
literature in seventeenth century, 
174; popular education in, 296, 
297 ; Napoleon's views on edu- 
cation, 297 ; under the Restora- 
tion, 297, 298 ; under Louis Phi- 
lippe, 298 ; Guizot's sentiments, 
298, 299 ; under the second re- 
public, 299, 300 ; present course 
and facilities, 300-302. 

Francke, A. H., theologian and 
teacher, 240, 241 ; noble devo- 
tion to teaching the poor, 241, 
242; institutions founded by, 
242, 243 ; views on education, 
244, 245 ; rules for teachers, 245 
-247 ; death of, 247. 

Freyssinous, M. de, on education 
in France, 297, 298. 

Froebel and the Kindergarten, 278- 
288 ; early life of, 278, 279 ; love 
of Nature, 279 ; education of, 
280, 281 ; enters on educational 
work, 282, 2S3 ; establishes the 
Kindergarten, 283, 284 ; princi- 
ples and practice of, 284-286 ; 
summary of educational system 
of, 287, 288 ; death and charac- 
ter of, 288. 

" Gate of Tongues," by Comenius, 
203, 204. 

Germany, effect of revival of learn- 
ing in, 123-125; opposition of 
the monks to education, 123-125; 
contemporary education in, 291, 
292 ; government supervision of 
education, 292 ; three grades of 
schools, primary, gymnasia, real- 
school, 292-295 ; normal schools, 
295 ; universities of, 296. 



Greece, ancient, position, people, 
etc., 39 ; two chief cities of, in 
history of education, 39 ; study 
of Greek language after the fall 
of Constantinople, 121. 

Greek and Latin, on the study of, 
264, 265. 

Groot, Gerhard, founder of the 
Brotherhood of Common Life, 
112. 

Grote, George, quoted on Pythago- 
ras, 46. 

Gymnastic training in Sparta, 41, 
42 ; in Athens, 53, 54 ; Plato's 
views on, 62 ; Seneca's opinion 
of, 76. 

Harvard, Rev. John, and Harvard 
College, 311. 

"Hazing" in German schools, 166. 

Hindoos, character of, 16, 17; 
castes among, 17 ; education of 
children, and teachers of, 18; 
higher education among, 19, 20. 

History of education. See Education. 

Humanists and revival of learning, 
120 ; eminent names among, 125 ; 
Agricola, 125; Reuchlin, 128; 
Erasmus, 131; humanism and 
theology, 159 ; movement of, in 
eighteenth century, 261 ; study 
of classical antiquity basis of all 
culture, 261, 262; fundamental 
principles of, 262, 263 ; leading 
representatives, 263, 264 ; system 
of, modified, 264, 265. 

Hutten, Von, and " Letters of Ob- 
scure Men," 124, 125. 

Huxley, Professor, on liberal edu- 
cation, 3. 

India, education in, 15 ; religion of, 
16; people, castes, and caste sys- 
tem, 16, 17; higher education in, 
19, 20. 

Israel, people of, 26-32 ; mission 
of, in the world's history, 27; 
education among, 27, 28 ; system 
of teaching, 28, 29 ; higher edu- 
cation of, 30; schools of the 



INDEX. 



331 



prophets, 30, 81 ; religious po- 
etry of, 31. 
Italy, effect of revival of learning 
in, 121-123. 

Jahn, Hebrew Commonwealth of, 
quoted, 30, 33, 34. 

Jansenism, in Roman Catholic 
Church, 224, 225; Port Royal 
schools, 225, 226; opposed to 
the Jesuit system, 226 ; services 
of school of, to education, 226, 
227. 

Janssen, J., on the schools of the 
Brethren of the Common Life, 
113. 

Jefferson, Thomas, on popular edu- 
cation, 315. 

Jerome, Saint, on Christian educa- 
tion, 91, 98. 

Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyo- 
la, 166; opponents of the Ref- 
ormation, 167 ; principles and 
methods, 167, 168; schools of, 
very successful, 168; the order 
abolished, then re - established, 
168 ; Loyola's plan of studies, 
169 ; the religious element very 
strong in, 170 ; skill of, in teach- 
ing, 171, 172; emulation, length 
of course, and results, 171-173. 

Jews. See Israel. 

Justin Martyr, quoted, 88. 

Kahnis, on the tenets of deism, 
248. 

Kant, on the Philanthropin educa- 
tional scheme, 260, 261. 

Kindergarten, established by Froe- 
bel, 283, 284; mode of teaching 
in, 284. 

Knightly education, aim of, and 
course of study, 107-110. 

Kothen, Ratich's school at, 196-200. 

Kurtz, on theology in the seven- 
teenth century, 155, 156; on the 
pietistic movement, 240. 

Lancaster, Joseph, labors of, for 
education, 305. 



Languages, value of study of an- 
cient, 264 ; of modern, 264, 265. 

Latin and Greek, on study of, 264, 
265. 

" Letters of Obscure Men," 124, 125. 

Lewes, G. H., on Plato, 60. 

Locke, John, early years and educa- 
tion, 213, 214; public life and 
experience, 214, 2]5 ; " Thoughts 
concerning Education," 216, 217 ; 
principles set forth in the work, 
217-219; views as to physical 
education, capacity of pupils, ex- 
ercises, study of languages, 219- 
222. 

Luther, Martin, on Reuchlin, 131 ; 
on the low state of education in 
Saxony, etc., 137, 138 ; early life 
and struggles, 140, 141 ; interest 
in education, 142-144 ; on family 
discipline, 144 ; on teaching, 145 ; 
efforts in behalf of education, 
146, 147. N 

Lyceums and communal colleges in 
'France, 300, 301. 

Lycurgus, system of laws and edu- 
cation, 40, 41 ; details of system 
of, 41, 45 ; results in Sparta, 44, 
45. 

Macaulay, Lord, quoted, 174. 

Magi, the, in Persia, 25. 

Massachusetts, early attention in, to 
education, 311 ; Harvard College 
founded in, 311, 312 ; action as 
to common schools, 312, 313. 

Maurus, Rabanus, on studies in the 
monastic schools, 101, 102. 

Melanchthon, pupil of Reuchlin, 1 30; 
on churches and schools of Thu- 
ringia, 136, 137; early life and 
training, 148, 149 ; love of learn- 
ing, 150; great influence on 
education, 151; " Saxony School 
Plan," of, 152. 

Milton, John, on education, 3 ; early 
life and training, 188, 189; sad 
period of life, 189, 190 ; educa- 
tional reformer, 190; views on 
education, 190-192; on meth- 



332 



INDEX. 



ods and studies, 192, 193; vast 
scheme of studies, 194. 

Minne-songs, what they were, 109. 

Mohammedan learning, seats of, 
success, etc., 114. 

Monastic schools, 99, 100 ; course 
of study in, 100, 101. 

Monitorial system of teaching, 304. 

Monks, opposed revival of learning, 
123-125 ; schools of, course of 
study, etc., 99-101. 

Montaigne, eminent French writer, 
175 ; early years and training, 
175, 176; "Essays" of, 176; 
views of, on education, study of 
languages, etc., 176, 177 ; cen- 
sures mechanical methods and 
cramming, 177; on school disci- 
pline, 177, 178 ; chief subject of 
study, 178. y 

Mosheim, the historian, on the views 
of the Jansenists, 224. 

Music, in Greek education, 54. 

Nature, study of, 247; as urged by 

Kousseau in "Emile," 250-255. 
Neander, the historian, quoted, 93 ; 

on education in Church schools, 

103, 104. 
Niethammer, on contrast between 

humanism and philanthropinism, 

263. 
Normal schools in Germany, 295. 

Oriental nations, aim of education 
in, 9. See China, India, Persia, 
Israel, Egypt. 

" Pansophic " scheme of education, 
204. 

Parochial schools, 102, 103. 

Paroz, on Sturm's system of educa- 
tion, 162, 163; on merits of Ra- 
ticb, 199, 200; on services of Port 
Eoyal to education, 226, 227 ; on 
Fenelon as a teacher, 224 ; on 
Rousseau's views, 252. 

Peasantry, education of, neglected 
in the middle ages. 111, 112. 

Pedagogue, Athenian, 52. 



Persia, religion of, 21, 22 ; educa- 
tion in, 22, 23 ; importance of the 
Magi in, 25. 

Pestalozzi, on sound education, 1 ; 
high character of, 266, 267 ; per- 
sonal qualities and studies, 268- 

270 ; devotion of, to teaching, 270, 

271 ; school of, at Burgdorf, 271 ; 
at Yverdun, 272, 273 ; loses his 
wife, 274; death and character 
of, 274, 275 ; educational princi- 
ples, 276, 277 ; these summarized 
by Payne, 277, 278. 

Pfefferkorn, John, sought to have 
all Jewish books, except the Bi- 
ble, destroyed, 130. 

Philanthropin, and Philanthropin- 
ists, views and theories of, on edu- 
cation, 256-261 ; chief advocates 
of the system, 256, 257 ; Kant's 
opinion of, 260, 261. 

Phoenicians, in antiquity, 26. 

Pietism, name given to Spener's 
labors in Frankfort, 239, 240. 

Plato, pupil of Socrates, 60 ; views 
on education in the " Republic," 
61, 62 ; made education the busi- 
ness of the state, course of study, 
etc., 61, 62. 

Plutarch, quoted, on education in 
Sparta, 41, 44 ; on Cato the Elder, 
70, 71. 

Popular education in England, 302, 
304-306 ; preparatory schools, 
302, 303 ; in American colonies, 
807, 308; in New England, 312; 
in Massachusetts, 312, 313; in 
Connecticut, 313; in Rhode Isl- 
and, 313 ; in New Jersey, 313 ; in 
Pennsylvania, 313 ; in Maryland, 
314. 

Port Royal schools. See Jansenism. 

Primary schools, in Germany, 292 ; 
in France, 300 ; in the United 
States, 320, 321. 

Protestantism, principles of, 138- 
140; services of, to education, 139, 
140. 

Public schools in New England 
States, 312-314. 



INDEX. 



333 



Puritang, in New England, educa- 
tional views of, 310. 

Pygmalion, story of, 184. 

Pyramids, in Egypt, 32. 

Pythagoras, 25 ; native of Samos, 
45 ; studies in Egypt, 45, 46 ; 
school of, in Italy, 46 ; views of, 
and course of study, 46, 47 ; re- 
ligious views of, 47, 48 ; dog- 
matic tone of, 48 ; end of career, 
49. 

Quick, on the Jesuit system of teach- 
ing, 172, 173 ; on teaching Latin 
at Kothen, 197, 198; on John 
Locke's views, 223. 

Quintilian, born in Spain, educated 
in Rome, 76, 77 ; taught twenty 
years in Rome, 77 ; system of 
education, 77-79 ; writings of, 
used in the monastic schools, 
100. 

Raikes, Robert, founder of Sunday- 
schools, 304. 

Ratich, critic and educator (six- 
teenth and seventeenth centu- 
ries), Holstein, 194, 195 ; memo- 
rial on education, 195; model 
school of, in Anhalt-Kothen, 196; 
mode of teaching, 196-198; fail- 
ure of school, 198; educational 
maxims, 199; value of educational 
maxims, 198 ; services of, to edu- 
cation, 199, 200. 

Raumer, quoted, 123, 125 ; on John 
Sturm, 159, 160; on university 
schools, 165 ; on Francis Bacon, 
181 ; on Comenius, 208 ; on John 
Locke, 216; on current training 
of children in eighteenth century, 
256. 

Reformation, the, in the sixteenth 
century, important results of, 119, 
120; relation of, to education, 135, 
136. 

Reformers, the Continental : Luther, 
140; Melanchthon, 148; Zwingli 
and Calvin, 153. 

Reuchlin, one of the humanists, 



128 ; services of, to Hebrew learn- 
ing, 128-130. 

Revival of learning, 120; effect 
produced in Italy, 121-123. 

Richter, on Rousseau's views of 
education, 250, 251. 

Ritter, on Aristotle, 63 ; on Cicero, 
72. 

Rollin, early life and education, 234 ; 
" Treatise on Studies," 235, 236 ; 
views of, as to sound education, 
236 ; on qualifications of teachers, 
237, 238 ; rules and principles of, 
m teaching children, 238, 239. 

Roman Catholic Church. See Church. 

Rome, age of Augustus in, 65, 66 ; 
Roman character in contrast with 
Grecian, 66 ; love of utility, 67 ; 
family life in, 67 ; school train- 
ing, 68, 69 ; higher education in, 
68-70 ; general result, 70. 

Rousseau, J. J., early years, 249 ; 
strange contradieiions in life of, 
250 ; " Emile, or concerning Ed- 
ucation," estimate of, 250, 251 ; 
views of, as to getting rid of evil 
by returning to Nature, 252 ; five 
periods of human development, 
252, 253 ; on female education, 
254, 255 ; tribute to Christ Jesus 
and the Gospel, 255. 

Rowe, Rev. A. D., quoted, on native 
schools in India, 18, 19. 

" Saxony School Plan," by Melanch- 
thon, 152. 

Schmidt, Karl, on Pythagoras, 47 ; 
on the teachings of Jesus Christ, 
85 ; on education in the middle 
ages, 94 ; on progress in the sev- 
enteenth century, 175 ; on John 
Locke, 216 ; on the principles of 
the humanists, 262, 263. 

Schools, catechetical, 91 ; monastic, 
99 ; cathedral and parochial, 102 ; 
Neander on church schools, 103, 
104; Jesuit, 167, 168; Port Roy- 
al, 225, 226 ; Kindergarten, 283, 
284 ; primary in Germany, 292 ; 
normal in Germany, 295 ; prima- 



334 



INDEX. 



ry in France, 300 ; common in 
Massachusetts, 312, 313 ; prima- 
ry in United States, 320, 321. 

Science and scientific spirit, growth 
of, in the middle ages, 113, 114 ; 
led to the founding of universi- 
ties, 115. 

Semitic race, works of, 26. 

Seneca, the philosopher, born in 
Spain, early education in Rome, 
74 ; banislied, 75 ; tutor of Nero, 
75 ; sentiments and principles of, 
75, 76. 

Socrates, born in Athens, personal 
appearance of, 56 ; sentiments 
and style of teaching, 57, 58 ; 
trial and death of, 68-60. 

Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, 60 ; 
system and aim of education, 50- 
55. 

Southern colonies of America neg- 
lected public education, 307 ; 
improvement in the Southern 
States since the war of secession, 
319. 

Sparta, under laws of Lyourgus, 40- 
42 ; education in, chiefly physical, 
41 ; how carried out, 42 ; literary 
and moral training, 42, 43 ; sys- 
tem of education is martial, 45 ; 
Thirlwall's views quoted, 45. 

Spencer, Herbert, on education, 4, 

Spener, Jacob. See Pietism. 

Stanz, on Lake Lucerne, Pestaloz- 
zi's school in, 270. 

Staunton, Howard, on English 
schools, 303. 

Sturm, John, born in Prussia, a 
noted humanist, 159 ; taught in 
Strasburg forty years, 159; course 
of study at gymnasium of, 160- 
162 ; influence of, in England and 
America, 163, 164. 

Sunday - schools, established by 
Raikes, 304. 

Tertullian, the Latin father, quoted, 
89, 95, 96. 

Teutonic nations, leaders in educa- 
tion, 87. 



Theology a science (seventeenth 
century), 155 ; effect of, on the 
universities, 164, 165. 

Thirlwall, the historian, quoted on 
education in Sparta, 45. 

Thomas h Kempis, one of the Breth- 
ren of the Common Life, 113. 

United States, educational needs of, 
306, 307 ; two periods, colonial 
and national, 307, 308 ; educa- 
tional work during colonial peri- 
od, in Virginia, Massachusetts, 
etc., 308-314 ; principles and 
spirit during national period, 314 
ct seq. ; national university advo- 
cated, 316; public lands granted 
for education, 316, 317 ; popular 
education throughout the country 
much the same, 320. 

Universities, rise and progress of, 
115, 116; influence and power 
of, 116, 117 ; low moral state of, 
in the middle ages, 115, 116; 
how affected by theological tend- 
encies, 164 ; disgraceful ex- 
cesses of students in, 165, 166 ; 
excellence of German, 296 ; in- 
struction in the French, 301, 302; 
in England, 303, 304; in the 
United States, 320, 321. 

" Veda," the, what it is, 16. 

Virginia, education in the colonial 
period, 308, 309 ; popular educa- 
tion discouraged, 308, 309 ; Will- 
iam and Mary College in, 309, 
310 ; literary development in, 
slow, 310. 

Washington, George, on advan- 
tages of popular education, 307, 
314. 

William and Mary College founded 
in Virginia, 309. 

Williams, Dr., on education in China, 
11. 

Wines, quoted, on Jewish education, 
31, 32. 

Woman, degradation of, in Oriental 



INDEX. 



835 



nations, 10, 18, 22; education of, 
in Sparta, 44 ; in Athens, 51, 55, 
64 ; in Rome, 67 ; education of, 
neglected in the middle ages. 111, 
1 12 ; Fenelon on " Education of 
Girls," 228, 231; Rousseau's 
views, 254, 255 ; education of, 
in India, 290. 

Xenophon, on education among the 



Persians, 23, 24 ; on the charac- 
ter of Socrates, 59, 60. 

Yverdun, Pestalozzi's school in, 2V2, 
273 ; Froebel's experience in, 
282, 283. 

Zoroaster, founder of Persian re- 
ligion, 21. 
Zwingli, on teaching, 153, 154. 



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